The term 'Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama`a'

Natrually, the expression "Ahl al-Sunnah" was unknown in the early days of Islam.

The expression "Ahl al-Sunna" is reported from Ibn `Abbas and Ibn `Umar by al-Lalika'i in Sharh Usul I`tiqad Ahl al-Sunna; Muslim narrates it from Muhammad ibn Sirin in the Muqaddima to his Sahih; and al-Darimi in his Musnad from al-Hasan al-Basri. This is not to mention the Mujtahid Imams and those of the generation-layer immediately preceding them.

I could look up al-Suyuti's compilation _Miftah al-Janna fi al-Ihtijaj bis- Sunna_ and the late Dr. `Abd al-Khaliq Abd al-Ghani's _Hujjiyyat al-Sunna_ for more reports, but this is probably enough to put to rest the false assumption that the expression was unknown in the early days of Islam.

Does anyone know anything about the etymology of the term "Ahl Al-Sunnah Wa Al-Jama'ah"?

Literal translation: The people of the traditional way and of the congregation.
Meaning: The people who follow the Prophetic Sunna and adhere to the largest mass of the Muslims beginning with the congregation of the Companions of the Prophet .
Antonym: "Ahl al-Bid`a wa al-Dalala" = the people of innovation and misguidance, i.e. all non-Sunni Muslims.
Some proof-texts:
"My Community shall divide into seventy-three sects, all of them in the Fire except one: [Those that follow] that which I and my Companions follow." A sound narration from `Abd Allah ibn `Amr by al-Tirmidhi (h.asan gharib).
Another version states: "My Community shall divide into seventy-three sects, all of them in the Fire except one: the Congregation (jama`a)." Narrated from Abu Hurayra by Ibn Majah and, as part of a longer h.adith, from Mu`awiya by Abu Dawud and Ah.mad all with good chains as stated by al-`Iraqi in al-Mughni while al-H.akim (1:128=1990 ed. 1:218) said "a sound chain" and al-Dhahabi concurred, and from Anas by Abu Ya`la in his Musnad as stated in Kashf al-Khafa.

In the same sense the Prophet said Allah bless and greet him and his family: "My Companions are trustkeepers for my Community" [Narrated from Abu Musa al-Ash`ari by Muslim and Ah.mad as part of a longer h.adith] and "Mankind makes up one portion (h.ayyiz) and I and my Companions make up one portion [counter-balancing it]." Narrated from Abu Sa`id al-Khudri, Rafi` ibn Khadij, and Zayd ibn Thabit by Ah.mad and al-T.abarani in al-Kabir (3:341 #4444), the former with a chain of sound narrators according to al-Haythami (5:250, 10:17), "a sound chain" according to al-Zayn in the Musnad (10:72 #11110, 16:43 #21521) and al-H.akim (2:258 � al-Dhahabi concurred) while al-Arna'ut declares Ah.mad's chain "cut off" (munqati`) but the h.adith itself s.ah.ih. li ghayrih in his edition of the Musnad (17:258 #11167); also by Ibn Abi Shayba (14:498-499), al-T.ayalisi in his Musnad (#2205), al-Qud.a`i in Musnad al-Shihab (#845), and al-Bayhaqi in Dala'il al-Nubuwwa (5:109-110). The complete narration states: "When the verse { When comes the Help of Allah, and Victory} (110:1) was revealed, the Messenger of Allah � Allah bless and greet him and his family � recited it until he finished it and said: `Mankind makes up one portion and I and my Companions make up one portion.' And he said: `There is no longer emigration (hijra) after victory but there remains jihad and intention (niyya) [for emigration].'"

After I posted the above on another forum I received the interesting answer below, to which I append my answer:

I don't recall the source off hand, however, I do recall reading something about this in Arabic some years ago. The writer explained that the word /jamaa`ah/ had the sense of agreement and not of "majority", or "congregation" as is popularly supposed. /jamaa`ah/ also means to join, meet with, or agree. In this case, we could understand /jamaa`ah/ to mean those who join or meet with, or who agree upon the truth. Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jamaa`ah : those who follow the sunnah of the Prophet, upon whom be peace, and who agree upon the truth, do combine or meet together in their own agreement of what this is, they affirm the truth and bear witness to it... and so on.
There are many opportunities for dispute here. Etymology is said to be a science in which the consants count for very little and the vowels for nothing at all.

Antonym: "Ahl al-Bid`a wa al-Dalala" =3D the people of innovation and misguidance, i.e. all non-Sunni Muslims.

Naturally, the expression "Ahl al-Sunnah" was unknown in the early days of Islam. This emerged in response to the "shia of Ali", who were the first to distinguish themselves from the community in a way that had already been forseen. Ahl al-Sunnah only has meaning when it is placed in apposition to something else and that first something was the shia, who indeed call themselves "ahl al-bayt" - grandly expropriating for themselves the moniiker of the "Household of the Prophet".

Today "Ahl" this and that is used by the rigidly righteous of all color and hue to refer to themselves : extremist Sufis who assume the authority to declare takfir on whoever disagrees with them will call themselves "Ahl al-Sunnah", despite the fact that takfir was the first bid'a to appear among the Muslims. Extremist Salafis do the same thing, tit for tat.

As sectarianism spreads, the terminology to destinguish the true path from all others proliferates, ahl this and ahl that multiply like rabbits. We have ahl al-hadith and its nemisis ahl al-fiqh. Ahl al-rai was a common perjorative for the proto-Hanafis of Kufa who had a penchant for speculative law and theology. G Haddad has already mentioned Ahl al-Dalala, the Misguided, and Ahl al-Bida, the innovators.

Early Wahhabi polemics mention Ahl al-Qibab wa Qihab, "the whoremongering people of tombs", that is to say, the Sufis, whose "whoreing" was with shirk. The opposite of this was, of course, "ahl al-tawhid".

The Wahhabis themselves, in the days of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and again in the 1930s under Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, then Sultan of Nejd, called themselves simply "Muslimuun". Who needs ahl when there is only belief and disbelief?

The important thing to remember when you see "ahl" is that someone somewhere is hoping to convince you that they alone possess truth.

Any doubt that the majority is meant is dispelled by the narrations elucidating jama`a to mean the largest mass or sawad al-a`zam. "Popularly" is misleading since the basic sense of congregation or rather massive majority is that forwarded by the Ulema first and last.

These distinctions are important to understand the rest of this answer, namely, that the Wahhabis - since you bring them up - were declared heretics by the Sunni Ulema two centuries ago regardless of what they called themselves or those they sought to demonize.

I would recommend that you take a look at Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani's "200 Years of New Kharijism and the Ongoing Revision of Islam", his introduction to the former Kuwaiti minister, Sayyid Yusuf al-Rifa`i's _Advice to Our Brothers the Scholars of Najd_ (Nasiha li Ikhwanina `Ulama' Najd) translated in full together with the introductory chapter of Sayyid `Alawi ibn Ahmad al-Haddad's 1801 book _Refutation of the Innovator from Najd_ (Misbah al-Anam fi Radd Shubah al-Najdi al-Bid`i al-Lati Adalla biha al-`Awamm)

lxxxvi p. + 393 p. Translation, notes, and appendices. Al-Sunna Foundation of America. Contact ihsan@isn1.net or ahmed@isn1.net or order through Islamic Shopping Network at www.sunnah.org (?): (click "publications").

The table of contents is archived in full at Dejanews (date: 2000-10-01) under the title "Rifa`i & Haddad on Wahhabiyya" at: http://groups.google.com/groups