designated in this situation whose, who stayed away from heretic teachings of the different warring parties. The term ahl as-sunna was always a laudatory designation. Abu Hanifa (d. 769), who sympathized with Murdshia, insisted that this were "righteous people and people of the Sunnah" (ahl al-ʿadl wa-ahl as-sunna). According to Josef van Ess this term did not mean more than "honorable and righteous believing people". Among Hanafits the designation ahl as-sunna and ahl al-ʿadl (people of the righteous) remained interchangeable for a long time. Thus the Hanafite Abū l-Qāsim as-Samarqandī (d. 953), who composed a catechism for the Samanides, used sometimes one expression and sometimes another for his own group. Singular to ahl as-sunna was ṣāḥib sunna (adherent to the sunnah). This expression was used for example by ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Mubārak (d. 797) for a person, who distances himself from the teachings of shia, kharijites, qadarites and murdajites. In addition, the Nisba adjective sunnī was also used for the individual person. Thus it has been recorded, the Kufic scholar of the Quran Abu Bakr ibn'auyash (d. 809) was asked, how he was a "sunni". He responded the following: „The one who, when the heresies are mentioned, doesn't get excited about any of them.“ The andalisian scholar ibn Hazm (d. 1064) taught later, that whose who confess to Islam can be divided into four groups: ahl as-sunna, Mutazilites, Murdschiiten, Schiiten und Charidschiten. The Muʿtazilites replaced the Qadarites here. In the 9th century, one started to extent the term ahl as-sunna with further positive additions. Abu l-Hasan al-Ashari used for his own group expressions like ahl as-sunna wa-l-istiqāma („people of Sunna and Straightness“), ahl as-sunna wa-l-ḥadīṯ („people of Sunnah and of the Hadith“) or ahl al-ḥaqq wa-s-sunna („people of truth and of the Sunnah“). Ahl as-Sunna wa-l-jama When the expression 'ahl as-sunna wal-jama' appeared for the first time, is not entirely clear. The Abbasite Caliph Al-Ma'mūn (reigned 813–33) criticized in his Miha-edict a group of people, who related themselves to the sunnah (nasabū anfusa-hum ilā s-sunna) and claimed, they are the "people of truth, religion and community" (ahl al-ḥaqq wa-d-dīn wa-l-ǧamāʿa). Sunna and jama are already connected here. As a pair, these terms already appear in the 9th century. It is recorded that the disciple of Ahmad ibn Hanbal Harb ibn Ismail as Sirjdshani (d. 893) created a writing with the title as-Sunna wa-l-ǧamāʿa, to which the Mutazilite Abu l-Qasim al-Balchi wrote