| Ṭoghrıl I had proclaimed himself sultan at Neyshābūr in 1038 and had espoused strict Sunnism, by which he gained the caliph's confidence and undermined the Būyid position in Baghdad. |
| Even within the various schools of Sunnism and the sects of Shiism, there is a plurality of outlook and practice. |
| They adhered to Sunnism and maintained themselves in the region southeast of the Caspian Sea. |
| Despite the differences between Sunnism and Shiism, the religious authorities of Tehran have redoubled their efforts to develop an inter-Islamic rapprochement. |
| But other strains of Sunnism have been less tolerant. The puritan revival known as Wahhabism has, since its beginnings in Saudi Arabia, been particularly hostile to Shiism. |
| Being a bastion of arch-conservative Sunnism, the kingdom has been seen as acting simply as a patron of Lebanon's Sunni minority rather than as a neutral arbiter. |
