This chapter considers the implications of this study for the broader history of medieval Sunnism and comparative work on heresy and orthodoxy in the field of religious studies and history. It concludes that proto-Sunni orthodoxy was an evolving process. Not only did it undergo a number of iterations, but it was characterised by internal contradictions and divisions. The failures of proto-Sunnism were as relevant to the formation of medieval Sunnism as were its successes. Medieval Sunnism was a product of constant tensions. These required negotiations. In order to appreciate the historical achievement of classical Sunnism, examining its most contentious times is integral to making sense of its most agreeable times. In this sense, to study the formation of orthodoxy and heresy in medieval Islam is to come to terms with a truism that ‘traditions, when vital, embody continuities of conflict’.

The Introduction examines the academic history of the study of sectarianism among Western sociologists, concluding that the categories established by Weber and his students are not overly helpful in understanding the history of the Muslim firaq. It outlines a new methodology for their study: the narrative-identity approach, which posits that human beings emplot themselves in narratives in order to find meaning and orient themselves, and that sect narratives are some of the narratives that human beings might choose to emplot themselves within. This methodology focuses more on what sectarian actors do, and treats the grand sect narratives as narratives of salvation that offer meaning to those emplotted. It then moves to the sources of Muslim sect narratives, paying particular attention to the problematic genre of heresiography. It ends with a brief discussion of the structure of the work.