title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In May 2009, he founded a farming company under the name "Breivik Geofarm", described as a farming sole proprietorship set up to cultivate vegetables, melons, roots, and tubers.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In 2010, he visited Prague in an attempt to buy illegal weapons. He was unable to obtain a weapon there and decided to use legal channels in Norway instead. He bought one semi-automatic 9 mm Glock 34 pistol legally by demonstrating his membership in a pistol club in the police application for a gun license, and the semi-automatic Ruger Mini-14 rifle by possessing a hunting license. Breivik's manifesto included writings detailing how he played video games such as "World of Warcraft" to relax, and "" for "training-simulation". He told a court in April 2012 that he trained for shooting using a holographic weapon sight while playing "Call of Duty". He claimed it helped him gain target acquisition.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik had no declared income in 2009 and his assets amounted to 390,000 kroner ($72,063), according to Norwegian tax authority figures. He stated that in January 2010 his funds were "depleting gradually". On 23 June 2011, a month before the attacks, he paid the outstanding amount on his nine credit cards so he could have access to funds during his preparations.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In late June or early July 2011, he moved to a rural area south of Åsta in Åmot, Innlandet county, about north-east of Oslo, the site of his farm. According to his manifesto, Breivik used the company as a cover to legally obtain large amounts of artificial fertiliser and other chemicals for the manufacturing of explosives. A farming supplier sold Breivik's company six tonnes of fertiliser in May. The newspaper "Verdens Gang" reported that after Breivik bought a small quantity of an explosive primer from an online shop in Poland, his name was among 60 passed to the Police Security Service (PST) by the Norwegian Customs Service as having used the store to buy products. Speaking to the newspaper, Jon Fitje of PST said the information they found gave no indication of anything suspicious. He sets the cost of the preparations for the attacks at €317,000 – "130,000 out of pocket and 187,500 euros in lost revenue over three years."


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik's farmer neighbour described him as looking like a "city dweller, who wore expensive shirts and who knew nothing about rural ways". Breivik had also covered up the windows of his house. The owner of a local bar, who once worked as a profiler of passengers' body language at Oslo Airport, said there was nothing unusual about Breivik, who was an occasional customer at the bar.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 22 July 2011, Breivik detonated a fertilizer bomb outside the tower block housing the office of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in Oslo, resulting in eight deaths.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Within a few hours of the explosion he travelled to Utøya island, the site of a camp for Worker's Youth League, posing as a police officer in order to take the ferry to the island, and then fired intermittently for more than one hour, killing 69 with one murder victim as young as 14 years old.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: When the police tactical unit Delta (based in Oslo) arrived on the island and confronted him, he surrendered without resistance. After his arrest, he was held on the island, and interrogated throughout the night, before being moved to a holding cell in Oslo.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik admitted to the crimes and said the purpose of the attack was to save Norway and Western Europe from a Muslim takeover, and that the Labour Party had to "pay the price" for "letting down Norway and the Norwegian people."


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 25 July 2011, Breivik was charged with violating paragraph 147a of the Norwegian criminal code, "destabilising or destroying basic functions of society" and "creating serious fear in the population", both of which are acts of terrorism under Norwegian law. He was ordered held for eight weeks, the first four in solitary confinement, pending further court proceedings. The custody was extended in subsequent hearings. The indictment was ready in early March 2012. The Director of Public Prosecutions had initially decided to censor the document to the public, leaving out the names of the victims as well as details about their deaths. Due to the public's reaction, this decision was reversed prior to its release. On 30 March, the Borgarting Court of Appeal announced that it had scheduled the expected appeal case for 15 January 2013. It would be heard in the same specially-constructed courtroom where the initial criminal case was tried.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik was kept at Ila Prison after arrest. There, he had at his disposal three prison cells: one where he could rest, sleep, and watch DVDs and TV, a second that was set up for him to use a computer without the Internet, and a third with gymnasium equipment. Only selected prison staff with special qualifications were allowed to work around him, and the prison management aimed to not let his presence as a high-security prisoner affect any of the other inmates. Subsequent to the January 2012 lifting of letters and visitors censorship for Breivik, he received several inquiries from private individuals, and he devoted his time to writing back to like-minded people. According to one of his attorneys, Breivik was curious to learn whether his manifesto has begun to take root in society. Breivik's attorneys, in consultation with Breivik, considered whether to have some of his interlocutors called as witnesses during the trial. Media outlets, both Norwegian and international, requested to interview Breivik. The first such was cancelled by the prison administration following a background check of the journalist in question. A second interview was agreed to by Breivik, and the prison requested a background check to be done by the police in the country of the journalist. No information was divulged about the media organisations in question.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik underwent his first examination by court-appointed forensic psychiatrists in 2011. The psychiatrists diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, concluding that he had developed the disorder over time and was psychotic both when he carried out the attacks and during the observation. He was also diagnosed with abuse of non-dependence-producing substances antecedent of 22 July. The psychiatrists consequently found Breivik to be criminally insane.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: According to the report, Breivik displayed inappropriate and blunted affect and a severe lack of empathy. He spoke incoherently in neologisms and had acted compulsively based on a universe of bizarre, grandiose and delusional thoughts. Breivik alluded to himself as the future regent of Norway, master of life and death, while calling himself "inordinately loving" and "Europe's most perfect Knight since WWII". He was convinced that he was a warrior in a "low intensity civil war" and had been chosen to save his people. Breivik described plans to carry out further "executions of categories A, B and C traitors" by the thousands, the psychiatrists included, and to organize Norwegians in reservations for the purpose of selective breeding. Breivik believed himself to be the "knight Justiciar grand master" of a Templar organisation. He was deemed to be suicidal and homicidal by the psychiatrists. According to his defence attorney, Breivik initially expressed surprise and felt insulted by the conclusions in the report. He later said "this provides new opportunities".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The outcome of Breivik's first competency evaluation was fiercely debated in Norway by mental health experts, over the court-appointed psychiatrists' opinion and the country's definition of criminal insanity. An extended panel of experts from the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine reviewed the submitted report and approved it "with no significant remarks". News in the meantime emerged that the psychiatric medical staff in charge of treating prisoners at Ila Detention and Security Prison did not make any observations that suggested he had either psychosis, depression or was suicidal. According to senior psychiatrist Randi Rosenqvist, who was commissioned by the prison to examine Breivik, he rather appeared to have personality disorders. Counsels representing families and victims filed requests that the court order a second opinion, while the prosecuting authority and Breivik's lawyer initially did not want new experts to be appointed. On 13 January 2012, after much public pressure, the Oslo District Court ordered a second expert panel to evaluate Breivik's mental state. He initially refused to cooperate with new psychiatrists. He later changed his mind and in late February a new period of psychiatric observation, this time using different methods than the first period, was begun.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: If the original diagnosis had been upheld by the court, it would have meant that Breivik could not be sentenced to a prison term. The prosecution could instead have requested that he be detained in a psychiatric hospital. Medical advice would then have determined whether or not the courts decided to release him at some later point. If considered a perpetual danger to society, Breivik could have been kept in confinement for life. Shortly after the second period of pre-trial psychiatric observation was begun, the prosecution said it expected Breivik would be declared legally insane. On 10 April 2012, the second psychiatric evaluation was published with the conclusion that Breivik was not psychotic during the attacks and he was not psychotic during their evaluation. Instead, they diagnosed antisocial personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder. Breivik expressed hope at being declared sane in a letter sent to several Norwegian newspapers shortly before his trial, in which he wrote about the prospect of being sent to a psychiatric ward: "I must admit this is the worst thing that could have happened to me as it is the ultimate humiliation. To send a political activist to a mental hospital is more sadistic and evil than to kill him! It is a fate worse than death."


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 8 June 2012, Professor of Psychiatry Ulrik Fredrik Malt testified in court as an expert witness, saying he found it unlikely that Breivik had schizophrenia. According to Malt, Breivik primarily had Asperger syndrome, Tourette syndrome, narcissistic personality disorder and possibly paranoid psychosis. Malt cited a number of factors in support of his diagnoses, including deviant behaviour as a child, extreme specialization in Breivik's study of weapons and bomb technology, strange facial expression, a remarkable way of talking, and an obsession with numbers. Eirik Johannesen disagreed, concluding that Breivik was lying and was not delusional or psychotic. Johannesen had observed and spoken to Breivik for more than 20 hours.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In the pre-trial hearing, February 2012, Breivik read a prepared statement demanding to be released and treated as a hero for his "pre-emptive attack against traitors" accused of planning cultural genocide. He said, "They are committing, or planning to commit, cultural destruction, including deconstruction of the Norwegian ethnic group and deconstruction of Norwegian culture. This is the same as ethnic cleansing."


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The criminal trial of Breivik began on 16 April 2012 in Oslo Courthouse under the jurisdiction of Oslo District Court. The appointed prosecutors were Inga Bejer Engh and Svein Holden with Geir Lippestad serving as Breivik's lead counsel for the defence. Closing arguments were held on 22 June.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 24 August 2012, Breivik was adjudged sane and sentenced to containment—a special form of a prison sentence that can be extended indefinitely; with an approximate period of 21 years and a minimum time of 10 years, the maximum penalty in Norway. Breivik did not appeal and on 8 September media announced that the verdict was final.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The court said "many people share Breivik's conspiracy theory, including the Eurabia theory. The court finds that very few people, however, share Breivik's idea that the alleged 'Islamisation' should be fought with terror."


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 18 January 2022, a trial started at Telemark District Court - in a makeshift courtroom in Skien Prison - to decide whether to reverse or uphold the District Attorney's refusal of parole. The indictment states that the prosecuting authority does not consent to parole because ""forvaring" [a type of continued detention] is deemed necessary to protect society".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: As of August 2021, Breivik had been indicted again; in 2022 "Verdens Gang" said about prisoners that are in preventive detention and who the Norwegian Prosecuting Authority has rejected parole for: those prisoners must be indicted again and the indictment must undergo a trial.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: At the start of the trial, Breivik gave several Nazi salutes, to both the judge and the members of the public in the courtroom. In his initial testimony, Breivik stated that he continues to be a Nazi and will continue to work for White Power, but no longer wants to pursue it through violence. He says that he is trying to register a Nazi political party; he apparently is aspiring to be a candidate running for parliamentary election in Norway.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik's lawyer, , said that he wants Breivik to serve his prison sentence together with one or more inmates; furthermore if that were to happen, then it would have to be with Philip Manshaus - because they would not injure each other.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On day two, , a Swedish local politician belonging to the Nordic Resistance Movement, testified. The next witness, Randi Rosenqvist, was a psychiatrist who retired in 2020; She said that she had met with Breivik as late as May and June 2017. Regarding possible activities to break up the monotony of Breivik's imprisonment or to decrease the predictable environment, she suggested: Could the prison not take him on a daytrip to in the forest in Skien - in a part of the forest where people seldom go? Could he sit in the backseat of a car, while correction officers purchased ice cream for him? On the other hand the prison can not do much when he is imprisoned under conditions of particularly high security, she said. The court permitted that Breivik could interject a comment regarding the testimonies from Rosenqvist and Öberg; Breivik said that Rosenqvist is not an expert on extremism. Breivik added that Rosenqvist said that he uses "a lot of time" on politics, however Breivik commented that he uses nearly all his time on business plans and his studies.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The next witness was Emily Krokann - an advisor at the prison, who has a law degree. She testified about a document that she did not write - about the prison's view that Breivik should not be paroled. Furthermore, she said that "Repeatedly letters have been stopped, that were to persons he had no contact with before the acts of terrorism". Furthermore she said that "Letters to public figures have been stopped, because supporters might become inspired by the letters". Furthermore she said that Breivik used anti-depressants - medicines against depression; furthermore she was asked by Breivik's lawyer, if she could give an example of one person who Breivik had two-way communication with, through postal letters; she said "No". Furthermore, she said that there is a goal that we, the Correctional Service will consider transferring Breivik to another prison with different conditions for serving the sentence; however, what this really means is not clear, NRK said.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The next witness was Espen Jambak, assistant warden. He said that Breivik has permission to write letters to people he knew "before" [the acts of terrorism]. Furthermore he said that he agrees with that there is little ""progresjon"". "Progresjon" entails that the prisoner is given the possibility of gradually transferring to lower security conditions, up to and including serving the sentence as a parolee. Rehabilitation can be aided by giving room for "progresjon".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On day three, Storrvik said that "It is a paradox that if a [prisoner] is treated so bad [by the government while] in prison that he never gets better, then he will never be released". Furthermore he said that someone can do horrible things, without later, as an ex-con or parolee, trying to repeat it. There are a number of arguments that speak against any repeat from Breivik: the crimes were solved, and what happened - has been confronted, said Storrvik; furthermore, the crimes became so grave because the planning was done out of sight; furthermore, today Breivik is known - that speaks for that a scheme with tight controls could prevent acts that can lead to an imagined parole turning into re-arrest and detention, said Storrvik. Furthermore he said that "In regard to ... evaluation of the danger for new acts [of terrorism,] I think that what [Breivik wrote in a letter] to Putin and NATO is [hardly relevant and] not a good example. Especially not when he writes that he would like negotiations with non-violent remedies". There is a goal that all punishment in Norway should have "progresjon", Storrvik said during closing arguments, according to Anders Giæver. Breivik has not had physical contact with anyone except correction officers, for the last nine years, his lawyer said, adding "That might be against regulations".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: NRK's crime journalist, Olav Rønneberg, said that: "In other words, the opinion of Breivik's lawyer is that if there is no facilitation for improvements, then the regulations will be violated by the government to a degree where the courts will be forced to let him out sometime in the future".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The trial ended on 20 January. The verdict was handed down on 1 February. The verdict says that Breivik appears to be "obviously mentally disturbed, and with a mind that is difficult for other people to penetrate".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Some psychiatrists watched media's broadcasts from the trial and they claim that Breivik appears to be mentally ill. Tor Ketil Larsen (professor of Psychiatry, UiB), says that Breivik appears psychotic, and that treatment should be attempted with counseling and possibly antipsychotics, by a psychiatrist that has a hypothesis that Breivik has become psychotic. Fred Heggen (psychiatrist and chief physician at Gaustad Hospital) says that Breivik appears to have clearly psychotic behavior and way of thinking - and Breivik "has a lack of reality that is pervasive, and it is dramatic". Neither have spoken with Breivik.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Pål Grøndahl, Ph.D a psychologist specialist, says a slippery hypothesis is, that Breivik's personality is so fragmented, that he moves, psychologically speaking, at the edge of the states between psychotic disorders and personality disorders; the hypothesis tries to answer the question of why it is difficult to attribute a clinical diagnosis to Breivik. Grøndahl goes on to say that "[when Breivik] throws forward odd ideas like that he was brainwashed in 2011, radicalised by descendents of German SS soldiers, and ordered by a right-wing 'collective' to re-establish the Third Reich, he sounds like a person that has a lacking sense of reality"; furthermore, it is not difficult to notice statements from Breivik that are characteristic of psychosis.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Randi Rosenqvis, one of Norway's leading forensic psychiatrists who has actually had conversations with Breivik disagrees with the comments that Breivik is psychotic; who appeared as the Norwegian Correctional Service's own psychiatrist, said that although she thought Breivik's thoughts were "crazy" they were "completely down to earth", and that she believed he had autism. Rosenqvis stated in Aftenposten, she found he mostly functioned in a clearly non-psychotic manner.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Tor Langback, a lawyer, said that Breivik seems more insane now than during the criminal trial in 2012; furthermore, Breivik's prison conditions are not exactly aiding the improvement of his mental health.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Alf Petter Høgberg, a law professor at UiO), watched and listened to media's broadcasts of the trial; he described Breivik's behavior as disturbing (and Høgberg was already aware that some psychiatrists were calling Breivik's 2022 appearance in court psychotic).


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In 2021, Aage Storm Borchgrevink, Norwegian author and literary critic, said that "Even after 77 burials ... the Norwegian press does not want to tell about the child abuse and psychiatric illness in Breivik's family".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Since August 2011, Breivik has been imprisoned in an "SHS" section (a prison section with "particularly high security"—"særlig høy sikkerhet"); In March 2022, Breivik was transferred to Ringerike Prison; the conditions under which he serves will remain the same as earlier.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Previously, between the inception of "SHS", in 2002, and 2016 Norway had only imprisoned ten or eleven prisoners under these conditions, of which Breivik's term has been the longest.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 23 July 2012 he transferred from Ila Detention and Security Prison in Bærum to Skien Prison, formally known as "Telemark fengsel, Skien avdeling", in Skien, county Vestfold og Telemark. on 28 September 2012 he transferred back to "Ila"; from September 2013 until 2022 he was in Skien.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Since 2015 or March 2014, Breivik has received visits from a prison visitor—a military chaplain (ranked major)—every two weeks; this visitor has been paid 164,000 Norwegian kroner, by the government , in regard to [visiting] Breivik. His mother visited him five times before her death in 2013 and researcher Mattias Gardell interviewed Breivik in 2014, but no other visitors requested by Breivik have been granted access.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: He is isolated from the other inmates, and only has contact with health care workers and guards. The type of isolation that Breivik has experienced in prison is what the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) calls "relative social isolation", according to a verdict of 2016 in Oslo District Court. In November 2020, Breivik had fellowship with another prisoner [for the first time], in the presence of [at least] seven prison officers; the prisoners played cards and talked for around one or two hours; the other prisoner chose to not have a third meeting with Breivik, according to media reports in January 2021.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In Europe, it is not uncommon to grant compensatory measures to prisoners that are being held in isolation for several years. , he has an electric typewriter and an Xbox (without internet connection) in his cell. Previously, when the original verdict was upheld in September 2012, his permission for access to a computer (without internet) in his prison cell ended.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik has been enrolled since 2015 in the bachelor's degree program in political science at the University of Oslo; he passed two courses that year; however court testimony in 2022 claimed that two courses were passed at Høyskolen på Molde and BI [a business school] - and he [studied or] started with political science and did everything he can do without attending [the educational institution] physically, therefore he has not taken [the exam at the end of the term, or] the exam; [thru, or] at HiMolde he studied Economics. He is scheduled to take exams in early 2022. Nobody at the high-security section "has internet", court testimony said in 2022. In 2015, he claimed in a letter that harsh prison conditions had forced him to drop out of the course. According to a March 2016 statement by his lawyer, , Breivik had become a Nazi in prison.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The government denied him parole in 2021, and the court system upheld that decision in 2022. Previously, in September 2020, an application for Breivik's parole was made by his attorney, Øystein Storrvik. As of July 2021, Breivik has been in prison for ten years, granting him the right to have the court system review his petition for parole.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In 2012, Breivik planned to set up an organisation he called the "Conservative Revolutionary Movement" which he envisioned consisting of around 50 right-wing activists in Europe, as well as an organization for imprisoned right-wing activists; Breivik has written to, among others, Peter Mangs and Beate Zschäpe. In 2012, he spent 8–10 hours per day writing. He has said that he wants to write three books: the first being his own account of the events on the day of the attacks, the second discussing the ideology underlying his actions, and a third on his visions for the future. Politicians have protested Breivik's activities in prison, which they see as him continuing to expose his ideology and possibly encouraging further criminal acts.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Since 2013, Breivik has been held at Skien Prison. As with all convicts his letters are vetted before sending to prevent further crimes. After he came to Skien Prison, 5 out of 300 letters that he had sent had not been confiscated, he testified in court in 2016. He added: "Of the 200 forms regarding prison visits that I have mailed, all have been confiscated." By 2016, around 4,000 postal items had been sent to or from Breivik, and about 15 percent of these (600 items) had been confiscated. On 11 March 2016, political scientist Ingeborg Kjos was copied in on a letter from Breivik to the Ministry of Justice that had taken over a year and a half to reach her; the letter did not advocate violence.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In a reply to a December 2019 letter from Breivik addressed to all members of parliament and with a personalized note to Kamzy Gunaratnam, a survivor of the Utøya attack, Gunaratnam wrote: "... As deputy mayor [... of Oslo] it is my job to see that no one experiences the same social rejection that you did [experience]. Your fight against social rejection is the only fight we have in common, Anders. The fight against the lacking presence of parents and adults. [Lack of] teachers who saw you [or validated you]. [Lack of] psychiatric assistance."


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In 2021, NRK printed a facsimile of part of letter which Breivik sent in July 2021 to an organisation headed by the mother of a female that Breivik had killed. The letter is described as "white power propaganda".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In November 2012, Breivik wrote a 27-page letter of complaints to the prison authorities, talking about the security restrictions he was being held under, claiming that the prison director personally wanted to punish him. Among his complaints were that his cell was not adequately heated and that he had to wear three layers of clothing in order to stay warm, guards interfered with his strictly-planned daily schedule, his cell was poorly decorated and had no view, his reading lamp was inadequate, guards supervised him while he would brush his teeth and shaved, and put indirect mental pressure on him to finish quickly by tapping their feet while waiting, he was "not having candy" and was served cold coffee, and he was strip-searched daily, sometimes by female guards. Authorities only lifted one minor restriction against Breivik; his rubber safety pen, which he described as an "almost indescribable manifestation of sadism," was replaced with an ordinary pen.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In letters to foreign media outlets, he told them about his demands (in 2013) to prison authorities "including easier communication with the outside world and a PlayStation 3 to replace the current PlayStation 2, because it offered more suitable games"; media reported in 2014 about demands that he would starve himself to death if he was refused "access to a sofa and a bigger gym"; furthermore he said that "Other inmates have access to adult games while I only have the right to play less interesting kids' games. One example is ""Rayman Revolution"", a game aimed at three year-olds," Breivik complained to prison officials."


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In September 2015, Breivik again threatened a hunger strike, because of deteriorating prison conditions, but delayed in order to sue the Norwegian Government over prison conditions.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: During 15–18 March 2016, Breivik was the plaintiff in a civil trial against the government of Norway. The verdict in the lower court was appealed; in the appellate court, he lost on all counts, and the supreme court decided not to hear the case.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik sued the government over his solitary confinement, and his general conditions of imprisonment, including a claim of an excessive use of handcuffs. Breivik claimed that his solitary confinement violated his human rights and asserted that he had been subjected to "degrading treatment, including hundreds of strip searches and frequent searches of his cell, including at night."


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The Parliamentary Ombudsman had previously reported that the regimen for serving a prison sentence at the level of "particularly high security" constitutes a heightened risk of inhumane treatment.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 14 March, members of the court performed a walk-through of prison cells used by Breivik at Ila Prison; later the same week the members of the court inspected the prison facilities used by Breivik at Skien Prison. No members of the press were permitted to join the walk-through, as per decisions by Oslo District Court.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: After his handcuffs were removed upon his arrival, Breivik faced the gallery and performed a Nazi salute. One judge said that Breivik's salute seemed disruptive, "therefore I wish that you do not do it again". A lawyer from the Office of the Attorney General said that of Breivik's incoming and outgoing mail, through the postal system, around 15 percent (or 600 pieces of mail out of around 4,000) had been confiscated. Øystein Storrvik, the head of Breivik's legal team, told the court about Breivik's letter of complaint to the government in 2012 which detailed being awakened by flashlight as often as every half-hour.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Parts of the trial proceedings were to be closed to the general public; Oslo District Court ruled twice on the matter, according to news reports.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 16 March, Breivik started his testimony, "to give his view on the strict prison regimen [that he is exposed to] and any damage done to his health while in prison as a cause of isolation". He reported having been handcuffed 3,500 times.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The first witness, Randi Rosenqvist, a psychiatrist at Ila Prison, was cross-examined by Storrvik. Storrvik asked if she had suggested visits without a glass wall; Rosenqvist replied: "Yes I have discussed this. I have been thinking that visits without a glass wall could be something [to consider]. I don't think that with his image, he would be violent to someone he has [some sort of] a [working-] relationship to." Storrvik read out loud, recommendations by Rosenqvist, including "Retired police officers could, for example, come [to socialise with Breivik], drink coffee, play games".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On the third day of the trial, Storrvik introduced a report from the "prevention section" at [the office of] the Parliamentary Ombudsman, dated 11 November 2015, regarding a series of visits that year by the ombudsman; the report said that Breivik was being held at a section where sometimes there was only one prisoner. Storrvik read from the report that "The limitations on visits at the time of the inspection [by the Parliamentary Ombudsman] seemed quite strict". He said that in that section of the prison, it should expand the planned [fellowship or] community between prisoners and employees and consider other measures to minimise the risk of isolation damage. At that section the prison should evaluate alternative possibilities for recreation in fresh air, in addition to the concrete exercise yard. The report recommended that the prison should discontinue the visual surveillance of health-related conversations that occur with a glass wall between prisoner and health personnel. (Despite The Parliamentary Ombudsman being called as a witness, no one from the office was forced to testify in court, and no one from that office testified.)


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The second witness was Knut Bjarkeid, Chief Warden at Ila Prison. Storrvik confronted Bjarkeid with a document regarding [prison] Section G being turned [in part] into a "particularly high security department". He read: "There are obvious limits to how long he can be in Section G"; the document was written by Bjarkeid. Storrvik said: "The words are here, obviously there are limits to how long he shall be isolated. This was in 2012. He is still in total isolation". After Bjarkeid left the witness stand, the government's chief lawyer in the trial, Marius Emberland read out loud from a letter that Breivik had written, dated 29 September 2013; in the letter Breivik reported several persons to the police; the Asker and Bærum Police District investigated and later dropped the investigation; Breivik's letter detailed the number of strip searches, "grip manoeuvres", and handcuffings he had undergone.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The third witness was Bjørn Draugedalen, a general practitioner working one day per week at Skien Prison. His first consultation with Breivik was held in a recreation room in a high-security unit. Draugedalen shook hands with Breivik, with five prison officers present; all the later consultations (until the trial) were held with a glass wall separating them. Storrvik asked: "This change, when another prisoner arrived [and started to live in the same prison section], which resulted in Breivik's movement being restricted—did you consider to go up there to view [his living conditions or] how things were"?; Draugedalen answered: "We have to deal with changes done by the Corrections Services". The judge interjected, and she said that the Correction Services likely would listen to health care workers; Draugedalen replied that "We did not see any extra value then, regarding visiting him in the [prison] section". Draugedalen said that he has not been notified that Breivik has discontinued his [college/university] studies.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The fourth witness was Haukeland, an MD for prisoners at Ila Prison. At 13:46 Storrvik read from [Breivik's medical] record dated 5 February 2013 that Breivik intends to recreate less in fresh air because of the strip searches that follow; Storrvik asked Haukeland: "The fact that he goes outside less, to avoid being strip searched, was that discussed as a problem?; Haukeland answered: "No, that was not discussed [among the health care workers or] in the health section". At 13:51 the judge referred to nightly inspections every half hour, and Haukeland answers that he cannot remember; the judge asked: "Were you the ones who recommended that"?; Haukeland replied: "No (...)".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The next two witnesses were Margit Kise and Tore Stenshagen, section leaders at Skien Prison. Stenshagen testified that sometimes he sits down [in Breivik's cell] and talks with Breivik, and sometimes they are accompanied by only one prison officer.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The seventh (and last) witness was Jørgen Spangen Iversen, an advisor at the Correctional Agency. Iversen was asked why Breivik was transferred to Skien rather than to Ringerike Prison; Iversen answered that he became a case-worker in 2014, and he was not involved in the transfer.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Summing up the case for Breivik, Storrvik said: "For some reason, in Norway it has been established that in a female prison, a male prison officer cannot strip search a prisoner, but in a male prison it is ok that females are present. This is offensive—I do not see any alternatives". He then talked about the case of strip searches of prisoner Piechowicz in Poland. In that case, the court was not convinced by the Polish government's arguments that the systematic, humiliating, daily searches were necessary to secure the prison. He continued: "He was also awoken at night, but he had 147 visits that compensated", and Piechowicz's isolation lasted for a shorter period; Storrvik said: "Note that one calls it "isolation", even though he had one cellmate". Storrvik said that "the verdict [of] Piechowicz vs. Poland point to a breach of ECHR in our case".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Storrvik said: "In my opinion there is not a complete concurrence between risk analyses and measures in our case. Risk analyses have at an early stage come with suggestions for measures [and these have not been followed up] (...) For example, removing the glass wall during visits and the possibility of introducing fellow prisoner, has been discussed at such an early stage that there should be a good reason for why Rosenqvist's advice has not been followed". Storrvik said: "The main problem for the government in this case is that the discrepancies between well-founded—in the context of security—suggestions from one of those who knows this case the best has not been followed".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Storrvik compared Breivik's position as a Catch-22 situation: if Breivik says that he has psychiatric problems, then he has picked them out of a book; if he says that he does not have psychiatric problems, then he does not have psychiatric problems.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Storrvik said that there had been no inspections by agencies tasked with oversight, as far as he knew, until the Parliamentary Ombudsman came. Breivik's lawyer referred to anal inspections [—visual or manual body cavity searches]; he disagreed with Emberland's view that there was a difference regarding "anal inspection" as referred to in ECHR verdicts in other cases, and the squats that Breivik must perform while naked; Storrvik's opinion is that Ila lacks concrete reasons for all the inspections.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Mestad said: "The government's primary task is to protect its citizens. To let a convicted terrorist establish a network, is dangerous".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Storrvik said Breivik's [previous] verdict "indicates a mental vulnerability. If that is not enough, Breivik appears—by my standards—confused in court". Storrvik added that [in Storrvik's usage,] ""mental vulnerability" is a very, very weak expression".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Emberland said that "Storrvik is quoting from the dissenting opinions from verdicts of the ECHR"—at least as much as he is quoting the majority opinions of the verdicts.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 18 March 2016 after the court was adjourned, the room where the trial had been held was turned back into the prison gymnasium.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In "Dagbladet", Aina Sundt Gullhaugen (research advisor and psychologist) said about prison superintendent Bjarkeid's opinion that Breivik is not one of the prisoners at Ila suffering [from isolation]:


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In Aftenposten, Ulrik Fredrik Malt [expert witness at the 2012 trial] said that "the mass murderer is mentally quite ill, and that's being undercommunicated".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 20 April 2016, District Court Judge Helen Andenæs Sekulic gave her verdict. The verdict said that the conditions of his imprisonment breached Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, but that Article 8 of the Convention had not been violated—confiscation of letters had been justified. The government was also ordered to pay Norwegian kroner 330,937.5 ($40,373) for the plaintiff's legal expenses incurred by the court case. (Breivik could not receive the money, but his lawyer could upon the verdict being upheld.) Breivik was not in any courtroom when he received the verdict; media said that his copy would be faxed [to the prison].


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 21 April 2016, news media said that Ole Kristoffer Borhaug, chief warden at Skien Prison, said that the prison regimen for Breivik would not be lightened, in part because the verdict has not been officially upheld, and there are regulations preventing high security prisoners from interacting with prisoners of other categories.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Other reactions to the verdict include those of former convicts: Kjell Alrich Schumann said that the verdict is most importantly about the principles regarding the application of isolation in Norwegian prisons. He said: "The decisions are evaluated by an entity at Correctional Service every six months, and they can use any kinds of arguments. There is no oversight"; said that "isolation [is something that the prison system of] Norway has been criticised about for several decades [by the ECtHR]".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The government's chief lawyer in the trial, Marius Emberland, had voiced his opinion about the verdict before the appeal; his opinion was criticized by the leader of the Norwegian Judges' Association, Ingjerd Thune: "I clearly understand that many react. I have never heard a lawyer speak in that manner—ever. That was surprising"; lawyer said that one gets the impression that Office of the Attorney General "does not respect the justice system, and they still think that they are right, even when the court thinks they are wrong"; Emberland eventually recognised that some of his verbal comments can be interpreted as arrogant, adding that "they really were not meant that way".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Legal scholar Mads Andenæs, said that "The appeal has no bearing on the responsibility of the government to evaluate and make the changes that the verdict of Oslo District Court imposes the government to do. This results directly from Norwegian Law and practices of ECtHR".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 5 August, media said that Storrvik claims that the judge [scheduled to rule in the trial] is partial; the judge was recused.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The appeal was heard in Borgarting Court of Appeal (convening within the prison), starting 10 January 2017; Breivik came to court without handcuffs.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Storrvik made comparisons with verdicts at European Court of Human Rights, including the case of the leader of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) (Abdullah Öcalan); that court found that Öcalan's human rights had been violated from the 6th year of his imprisonment —until the 10th year [... when his isolation ended, and fellowship with other prisoners was permitted].


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The verdict, handed down on 1 March 2017, stated that solitary confinement did not violate Breivik's rights, and all recommendations were voided.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: , Breivik is still receiving pro bono legal aid from the law firm of Øystein Storrvik - his lawyer since 2014. Previously the firm of Geir Lippestad did pro bono representation of Breivik (after the 2012 trial). Legal aid during criminal trials has been paid by the government, as is the norm in the country.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 23 March 2013, Breivik's mother died from complications from cancer. On the same day media said that mother and son "took farewell during a meeting at Ila last week. Breivik was permitted to move himself out from behind the glass wall of the visit room—to give his mother a farewell hug". Breivik asked prison officials for permission to attend his mother's funeral service; permission was denied.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Janne Kristiansen, then Chief of the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), said Breivik "deliberately desisted from violent exhortations on the net [and] has more or less been a moderate, and has neither been part of any extremist network." He is reported to have written many posts on the Islam-critical website document.no. He also attended a meeting of "Documents venner" (Friends of Document), affiliated with the website, in late 2009. Due to the media attention on his Internet activity following the 2011 attacks, document.no compiled a complete list of comments made by Breivik on its website between September 2009 and June 2010.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: A "Dagens Næringsliv" article said that Breivik sought to start a Norwegian version of the Tea Party movement in cooperation with the owners of document.no, but that they, after expressing initial interest, turned down his proposal because he did not have the contacts he promised.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Six hours before the attacks, Breivik posted a picture of himself as a Knight Templar officer in a uniform festooned with a gold aiguillette and multiple medals he had not been awarded. In the video, he included an animation depicting Islam as a Trojan horse in Europe. The video, which promotes fighting against Islam, shows Breivik wearing a wetsuit and holding a semi-automatic weapon.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik prepared a document titled "2083: A European Declaration of Independence". It runs to 1,518 pages and is credited to "Andrew Berwick" (an Anglicization of Breivik's name). Breivik admitted in court that it was mostly other people's writings he had copied and pasted from different websites.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The file was e-mailed to 1,003 addresses about 90 minutes before the bomb blast in Oslo. The document describes two years of preparation of unspecified attacks, supposedly planned for late 2011, involving a rented Volkswagen Crafter van (small enough not to require a truck driving licence) loaded with of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil explosive (ANFO), a Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle, a Glock 34 pistol, personal armour including a shield, caltrops, and police insignias. It reported Breivik spent thousands of hours gathering email addresses from Facebook for distribution of the document, and that he rented a farm as a cover for a fake farming company buying fertilizer (3 tons for producing explosives and 3 tons of a harmless kind to avoid suspicion) and as a lab. It describes burying a crate with the armour in the woods in July 2010, collecting it on 4 July 2011, and abandoning his plan to replace it with survival gear because he did not have a second pistol. It also expresses support for far-right groups such as the English Defence League and paramilitaries such as the Scorpions in Serbia.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The introductory chapter of the manifesto asserts that political correctness is responsible for social rot. He blames the Frankfurt School for the promulgation of political correctness, which he identifies with "cultural Marxism". Parts of these sections are plagiarized from "Political Correctness: A Short History of an Ideology" by Paul Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation. Major parts of the compendium are attributed to the pseudonymous Norwegian blogger Fjordman, while Serbian writer, Srđa Trifković, is quoted in a number of places.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: The text also copies sections of the Unabomber manifesto, without giving credit, while replacing the words "leftists" with "cultural Marxists" and "black people" with "muslims". "The New York Times" described American influences in the writings, observing that the compendium mentions the anti-Islamist American Robert Spencer 64 times and cites Spencer's works at great length. The work of Bat Ye'or is frequently cited. Conservative blogger Pamela Geller is also mentioned as a source of inspiration. Breivik blames feminism for allowing the erosion of the fabric of European society and advocates a restoration of patriarchy which he claims would save European culture.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: India, and in particular Hindu nationalism, figures repeatedly in the manifesto where he expresses praise and admiration for Hindu nationalist groups. He claimed to have attempted to reach out to Indians through email & Facebook. In his writings Breivik also states that he wants to see European policies on multiculturalism and immigration more similar to those of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan which he said are "not far from cultural conservatism and nationalism at its best". He expressed his admiration for the "monoculturalism" of Japan and for Japan and South Korea's refusal to accept refugees. "The Jerusalem Post" describes his support for Israel as a "far-right Zionism". He calls all "nationalists" to join in the struggle against "cultural Marxists/multiculturalists".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: He also expressed his admiration of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, finding him "a fair and resolute leader worthy of respect", though he was "unsure at this point whether he has the potential to be our best friend or our worst enemy." Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denounced Breivik's actions as the "delirium of a madman".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Benjamin R. Teitelbaum, former professor of Nordic Studies (current professor of musicology) at University of Colorado, argues that several parts of the manifesto suggest that Breivik was concerned about race, not only about Western culture or Christianity, labelling him as a white nationalist.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Thomas Hegghammer of the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment described the ideologies of Breivik as "not fitting the established categories of right-wing ideology, like white supremacism, ultranationalism or Christian fundamentalism", but more akin to macro-nationalism and a "new doctrine of civilisational war". Norwegian social scientist Lars Gule characterised Breivik as a "national conservative, not a Nazi". Pepe Egger of the think-tank Exclusive Analysis says "the bizarre thing is that his ideas, as Islamophobic as they are, are almost mainstream in many European countries".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In one section of the manifesto titled "Battlefield Wikipedia", Breivik explains the importance of using Wikipedia as a venue for disseminating views and information to the general public, although the Norwegian professor Arnulf Hagen claims that this was a document that he had copied from another author and that Breivik was unlikely to be a contributor to Wikipedia. According to the leader of the Norwegian chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation an account has been identified which they believe Breivik used. On the second day of his trial, Breivik cited Wikipedia as the main source for his worldview.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik's manifesto "2083: A European Declaration of Independence" circulated in online fascist forums where strategies were set and tactics debated. In an essay called "Right-wing terrorism as folk activism," neoreactionary blogger Curtis Yarvin described Breivik's actions as "illegitimate, ineffective and "wrong"," while accusing left-wingers of hypocrisy in their response to the attack: "No one who condones Che, Stalin, Mao, or any other leftist murderer, has any right to ask anyone else to dissociate himself from a rightist who didn't even make triple digits." Australian terrorist Brenton Harrison Tarrant who killed 51 people (all Muslims) and injured 50 more during the Christchurch mosque shootings at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, mentioned Breivik in his manifesto "The Great Replacement" as one of the far-right mass murderers and killers he supports and said "But only really took true inspiration from Knight Justiciar Breivik" even going as far as to claim "brief contact" with him and his organization Knights' Templar.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik had been active on several anti-Islamic and nationalist blogs, including "document.no", and was a regular reader of "Gates of Vienna", the "Brussels Journal" and "Jihad Watch". Breivik frequently praised the writings of blogger Fjordman. He used Fjordman's thinking to justify his actions, citing him 111 times in the manifesto.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: After studying several militant groups, including the IRA, ETA and others, Breivik suggests far-right militants should adopt al-Qaeda's methods, learn from their success, and avoid their mistakes. Breivik described al-Qaeda as the "most successful revolutionary force in the world" and praised their "cult of martyrdom".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In a letter Breivik sent to international media in January 2014, he stated that he exploited "counterjihadist" rhetoric as a means to protect "ethno-nationalists" and start a media hunt against "anti-nationalist counterjihadist"-supporters, in a strategy he calls "double psychology". Breivik further stated that he strives for a "pure Nordic ideal", advocating the establishment of a similar party in Norway to the (now-defunct) neo-Nazi Party of the Swedes, and identifying himself as a part of "Western Europe's fascist movement". Moreover, he stated that his "support" for Israel is limited for it to function as a place to deport "disloyal Jews". During the trial in 2012, Breivik listed as his influences a number of neo-Nazi activists, as well as perpetrators of attacks against immigrants and leftists, considering them "heroes". In 2019, he claimed to have converted to democratic right-wing populism. This has later been disputed since he still identifies as a "national socialist" and is possibly "more radical" than before with advocacy for white separatism.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 17 April 2012, when asked by Lawyer Siv Hallgren if he is religious, Breivik answered in the affirmative. Later, during the same conversation, he states "I am Christian. I believe in God, but I am a bit religious, but not especially religious."


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Following his arrest (in 2011), Breivik was characterised by analysts as being a right-wing extremist with anti-Muslim views and a deep-seated hatred of Islam, who considered himself a knight dedicated to stemming the tide of Muslim immigration into Europe. At the same time, Breivik said both during his trial and in his manifesto to have been inspired by jihadist groups, and stated his willingness to work with groups like Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Iran and Sudan in order to conduct attacks with weapons of mass destruction against Western targets.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: He was at first described by many in the media as a Christian fundamentalist, Christian terrorist, and nationalist. He stated that the European Union is a project to create "Eurabia" and describes the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia as being authorised by "criminal western European and American leaders". In his writings, Breivik stated that "the Battle of Vienna in 1683 should be celebrated as the Independence Day for all Western Europeans as it was the beginning of the end for the second Islamic wave of Jihads". The manifesto urges the Hindu nationalists to drive Muslims out of India. It demands the forced deportation of all Muslims from Europe, based on the model of the Beneš decrees.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: His religious faith has later been described as being Odinism. While Breivik was frequently described as a "Christian fundamentalist", such assertion was disputed in a number of sources, and Breivik denied it, saying in letters to Norwegian newspaper "Dagen" that he "is not, and has never been a Christian", and that he thinks there are few things in the world more "pathetic" than "the Jesus-figure and his message". He said he prays and sacrifices to Odin, and identifies his religion as Odinism.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik was an active member of an Oslo shooting club between 2005 and 2007, and from 2010. According to the club, which banned him for life after the attacks, Breivik took part in 13 organized training sessions and one competition since June 2010. The club states that it does not evaluate the members' suitability regarding possession of weapons.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: At the time of the attacks, Breivik was a member of the Lodge of St. Olaf at the Three Columns in Oslo and had displayed photographs of himself in partial Masonic regalia on his Facebook profile. In interviews after the attacks, his lodge said it had only minimal contact with him, and that when made aware of Breivik's membership, Grand Master of the Norwegian Order of Freemasons, Ivar A. Skaar, issued an edict immediately excluding him from the fraternity based upon the acts he carried out and the values that appear to have motivated them. According to the Lodge records, Breivik took part in a total of four meetings between his initiation in February 2007 and his exclusion from the order (one each to receive the first, second, and third degrees, and one other meeting) and held no offices or functions within the Lodge. Skaar said that although Breivik was a member of the Order, his actions showed that he was in no way a Mason.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik became a member of the Progress Party (FrP) in 1999. He paid his membership dues for the last time in 2004, and was removed from the membership lists in 2006.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: During his time in the Progress Party, he held two positions in the Progress Party's youth organisation FpU: he was the chair of the local Vest Oslo branch from January to October 2002, and a member of the board of the same branch from October 2002 until November 2004.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: After the attack, the Progress Party immediately distanced itself from Breivik's actions and ideas. At a 2013 press conference, Ketil Solvik-Olsen said that Breivik "left us [the party] because we were too liberal".


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik claimed he had contact with the far-right English Defence League (EDL), a movement in the United Kingdom that has been accused of Islamophobia. He allegedly had extensive links with senior EDL members and wrote that he attended an EDL demonstration in Bradford. On 26 July 2011, EDL leader Tommy Robinson denounced Breivik and his attacks and has denied any official links with him.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 31 July 2011, Interpol asked Maltese police to investigate Paul Ray, a former EDL member who blogs under the name "Lionheart." Ray conceded that he may have been an inspiration for Breivik, but deplored his actions.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In an online discussion on the Norwegian website Document.no on 6 December 2009, Breivik proposed establishing a Norwegian version of the EDL. Breivik saw this as the only way to stop left-wing radical groups like Blitz and SOS Rasisme from "harassing" Norwegian cultural conservatives. Following the establishment of the European Defence League, the Norwegian Defence League (NDL) launched in 2010. Breivik indeed became a member of this organization under the pseudonym "Sigurd Jorsalfar". Former head of the NDL, Lena Andreassen, claimed that Breivik was ejected from the organization when she took over as leader in March 2011 because he was too extreme.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: In his manifesto and during interrogation, Breivik claimed membership in an "international Christian military order", which he called the new "Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici" (PCCTS, Knights Templar). According to Breivik, the order was established as an "anti-Jihad crusader-organisation" that "fights" against "Islamic suppression" in London in April 2002 by nine men: two Englishmen, a Frenchman, a German, a Dutchman, a Greek, a Russian, a Norwegian (apparently Breivik), and a Serb (supposedly the initiator, not present, but represented by Breivik). The compendium gives a "2008 estimate" that there are between 15 and 80 "Justiciar Knights" in Western Europe, and an unknown number of civilian members, and Breivik expects the order to take political and military control of Western Europe.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: Breivik gave his own code name in the organisation as Sigurd and that of his assigned "mentor" as Richard, after the twelfth-century crusaders and kings Sigurd Jorsalfar of Norway and Richard the Lionheart of England. He called himself a one-man cell of this organisation, and claimed that the group has several other cells in Western countries, including two more in Norway. On 2 August 2011, Breivik offered to provide information about these cells, but on unrealistic preconditions.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: After an intense investigation assisted internationally by several security agencies, the Norwegian police did not find any evidence a PCCTS network existed, or that an alleged 2002 London meeting ever took place. The police concluded Breivik's claim was a figment of his imagination because of his schizophrenia diagnosis, and were confident that he had no accessories. Breivik continued to insist he belonged to an order and that his one-man cell was "activated" by another clandestine cell.


title: Anders Behring Breivik

text: On 14 August 2012, several Norwegian politicians and media outlets received an email from someone claiming to be Breivik's "deputy", demanding that Breivik be released and making more threats against Norwegian society.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word "Sunnah", referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagreement over the succession to Muhammad and subsequently acquired broader political significance, as well as theological and juridical dimensions. According to Sunni traditions, Muhammad left no successor and the participants of the Saqifah event appointed Abu Bakr as the next-in-line (the first caliph). This contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad appointed his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor.


title: Sunni Islam

text: The adherents of Sunni Islam are referred to in Arabic as ' ("the people of the Sunnah and the community") or ' for short. In English, its doctrines and practices are sometimes called Sunnism, while adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites and Ahlus Sunnah. Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as "orthodox Islam", though some scholars view this translation as inappropriate.


title: Sunni Islam

text: The Quran, together with hadith (especially those collected in Kutub al-Sittah) and binding juristic consensus, form the basis of all traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. Sharia rulings are derived from these basic sources, in conjunction with analogical reasoning, consideration of public welfare and juristic discretion, using the principles of jurisprudence developed by the traditional legal schools. In matters of creed, the Sunni tradition upholds the six pillars of "imān" (faith) and comprises the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools of Kalam (theology) as well as the textualist school known as traditionalist theology.


title: Sunni Islam

text: The Arabic term "Sunna", according to which Sunnis are named, is old and roots in pre-Islamic language. It was used for traditions which a majority of people followed. The term got greater political significance after the murder of the third Sunni Caliph ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān. It is said Mālik al-Aschtar, a famous follower of ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib, encouraged during the battle of Siffin with the expression, Ali's enemy Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān kills the "Sunna". After the battle, it was agreed that "the righteous "Sunnah", the unifying, not the divisive" (""as-sunna al-ʿādila al-ǧāmiʿa ġair al-mufarriqa"") should be consulted to resolve the conflict. The time when the term "sunna" became the short form for "sunnah of the prophet" ("sunnat an-nabī") is still unknown. During the Umayyad Caliphate, several political movements, amongst them the Shia and the Kharijites who rebelled against the formation of the state; led their battles in the name of "the book of God ("Qur'an") and the "Sunnah" of his Prophet". During the second Civil War (680–92) the Sunna-term received connotations critical of Shi'i doctrines ("Tashayyu"'). It is recorded by Masrūq ibn al-Adschdaʿ (d. 683), who was a "Mufti" in Kufa, a need to love the first two caliphs Abū Bakr and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and acknowledge their priority (Fadā'il). A disciple of Masrūq, the scholar ash-Shaʿbī (d. between 721 und 729), who first sided with the Shia in Kufa during Civil War, but turned away in disgust by their fanaticism and finally decided to join the umayyad Caliph ʿAbd al-Malik, popularized the concept of "sunnah". It is also passed down by asch-Shaʿbī, that he took offensive at the hatred on ʿĀʾiša bint Abī Bakr and considered it a violation of the "sunnah".


title: Sunni Islam

text: The term "Sunna" instead of the longer expression "ahl as-sunna" or "ahl as-sunna wa-l-ǧamāʿa" as a group-name for Sunnis is a relatively young phenomenon. It was probably Ibn Taymiyyah, who used the short-term for the first time. It was later popularized by pan-Islamic scholars such as Muhammad Rashid Rida in his treatise "as-Sunna wa-š-šiʿa au al-Wahhābīya wa-r-Rāfiḍa: Ḥaqāʾiq dīnīya taʾrīḫīya iǧtimaʿīya iṣlaḥīya" ("The Sunna and the Shia, Or Wahhabism and "Rāfidism": religious history, sociological und reformoriented facts“) published in 1928–29. The term ""sunna"" is usually used in Arabic discourse as designation for Sunni Muslims, when they are intended to be contrasted with Shias. The word pair "Sunnah-Shia" is also used on Western research literature to denote the Sunni-Shia contrast.


title: Sunni Islam

text: One of the earliest supporting documents for "ahl as-sunna" derives from the Basric scholar Muhammad Ibn Siri (d. 728). His is mentioned in the "Sahih" of Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj quoted with: "Formerly one did not aksed about the Isnad. But when the "fitna" started, one said: 'Name us your informants'. One would then respond to them: if they were Sunnah people, you accept their hadith. But if they are people of the Innovations, the hadith was rejected." G.H.A. Juynboll assumed, the term "fitna" in this statement is not related to the first Civil War (665–661) after murder of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, but the second Civil War (680–692) in which the Islamic community was split into four parties (Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, the Umayyads, the Shia under al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbaid and the Kharijites). The term "ahl sunna" designated in this situation whose, who stayed away from heretic teachings of the different warring parties.


title: Sunni Islam

text: 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.


title: Sunni Islam

text: 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.


title: Sunni Islam

text: 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“).


title: Sunni Islam

text: 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 a refutation later. Al-Jubba'i (d. 916) tells in his "Kitāb al-Maqālāt", that Ahmad ibn Hanbal attributed to his students the predicate "sunnī jama" („Jammatic Sunnite“). This indicates that the Hanbalis were the first to use the phrase "ahl as-sunna wal-ǧamāʿa" as a self-designation.


title: Sunni Islam

text: But also the Karramiyya founded by Muhammad ibn Karram (d. 859) referred to the sunnah and community. They passed down for praise of their schoolfounder a hadith, according to which the prophet Muhammad predicted that at the end of times a man named Muhammad ibn Karram will appear, who will restore the sunna and the community ("as-sunna wal-ǧamāʿa") and take Hidraj from Chorasan to Jerusalem, just how Muhammad himself took a Hidraj from Mecca to Medina. According to the testimony of the transoxanian scholar Abu l-Yusr al-Bazdawi (d. 1099) the Kullabites (followers of the Basrian scholar ibn Kullab (d. 855)) dayed about themselves, that they are among the "ahl as-sunna wal-jama" too.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Abu l-Hasan al-Ashari used the expression "ahl as-sunna wal-jama" rarely, and preferred another combination. Later Asharites like al-Isfaranini (d. 1027) nad Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi (d. 1078) used the expression "ahl as-sunna wal-jama" too and used them in their works to designate the teachings of their own school. According to al-Bazdawi all Asharites in his time said they belong to the "ahl as-sunna wal-jama". During this time, the term has been used as a self-designation by the hanafite Maturidites in Transoxiania, used frequently by Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi (d. 983), Abu Schakur as Salimi (d. 1086) and al-Bazdawi himself. They used the term as a contrast from their enemies among them Hanafites in the West, who have been followers of the Mutazilites. Al-Bazdawī also contrasted the "ahl as-sunna wal-jama"' with "ahl-al-ḥadīṯ", "because they would adhere to teachings contrary to the Quran".


title: Sunni Islam

text: According to Schams ad-Dīn al-Maqdisī (end of the 10the Century) was the expression "ahl as-sunna wal-jama" a laudatory term during his time, similar to "ahl al-ʿadl wa-t-tauḥīd" („people of righteousness and Divine Unity“), which was used for Mutazilites or generally designations like Mu'minūn („Believer“) or"aṣḥāb al-hudā" („people of guidance“) for Muslims, who has been seen as rightoues believers. Since the expression "ahl as-sunna wa-l-jama" was used with a demand on rightoues belief, it was used in academic researches translated as "orthodox".


title: Sunni Islam

text: There are different opinions regarding what the term "jama" in the phrase "ahl as-sunna wal-jama" actually means, among Muslim scholars. In the Sunni Creed by at-Tahawi (d. 933), the term "jama" contrasts several times the Arabic term "furqa" ("Division, sectarianism").


title: Sunni Islam

text: One common mistake is to assume that Sunni Islam represents a normative Islam that emerged during the period after Muhammad's death, and that Sufism and Shi'ism developed out of Sunni Islam. This perception is partly due to the reliance on highly ideological sources that have been accepted as reliable historical works, and also because the vast majority of the population is Sunni. Both Sunnism and Shiaism are the end products of several centuries of competition between ideologies. Both sects used each other to further cement their own identities and doctrines.


title: Sunni Islam

text: The first four caliphs are known among Sunnis as the Rāshidun or "Rightly-Guided Ones". Sunni recognition includes the aforementioned Abu Bakr as the first, Umar as the second, Uthman as the third, and Ali as the fourth. Sunnis recognised different rulers as the caliph, though they did not include anyone in the list of the rightly guided ones or "Rāshidun" after the murder of Ali, until the caliphate was constitutionally abolished in Turkey on 3 March 1924.


title: Sunni Islam

text: The seeds of metamorphosis of caliphate into kingship were sown, as the second caliph Umar had feared, as early as the regime of the third caliph Uthman, who appointed many of his kinsmen from his clan Banu Umayya, including Marwān and Walid bin Uqba on important government positions, becoming the main cause of turmoil resulting in his murder and the ensuing infighting during Ali's time and rebellion by Muāwiya, another of Uthman's kinsman. This ultimately resulted in the establishment of firm dynastic rule of Banu Umayya after Husain, the younger son of Ali from Fātima, was killed at the Battle of Karbalā. The rise to power of Banu Umayya, the Meccan tribe of elites who had vehemently opposed Muhammad under the leadership of Abu Sufyān, Muāwiya's father, right up to the conquest of Mecca by Muhammad, as his successors with the accession of Uthman to caliphate, replaced the egalitarian society formed as a result of Muhammad's revolution to a society stratified between haves and have-nots as a result of nepotism, and in the words of El-Hibri through "the use of religious charity revenues ("zakāt") to subsidise family interests, which Uthman justified as "'al-sila"' (pious filial support)". Ali, during his rather brief regime after Uthman maintained austere life style and tried hard to bring back the egalitarian system and supremacy of law over the ruler idealised in Muhammad's message, but faced continued opposition, and wars one after another by Aisha-Talhah-Zubair, by Muāwiya and finally by the Khārjites. After he was murdered his followers immediately elected Hasan ibn Ali his elder son from Fātima to succeed him. Hasan shortly afterward signed a treaty with Muāwiya relinquishing power in favour of the latter, with a condition inter alia, that one of the two who will outlive the other will be the caliph, and that this caliph will not appoint a successor but will leave the matter of selection of the caliph to the public. Subsequently, Hasan was poisoned to death and Muawiya enjoyed unchallenged power. Dishonouring his treaty with Hasan, he nominated his son Yazid to succeed him. Upon Muāwiya's death, Yazid asked Husain, the younger brother of Hasan, Ali's son and Muhammad's grandson, to give his allegiance to Yazid, which he plainly refused. His caravan was cordoned by Yazid's army at Karbalā and he was killed with all his male companions – total 72 people, in a day long battle after which Yazid established himself as a sovereign, though strong public uprising erupted after his death against his dynasty to avenge the massacre of Karbalā, but Banu Umayya were able to quickly suppress them all and ruled the Muslim world, till they were finally overthrown by Banu Abbās.


title: Sunni Islam

text: The rule of and "caliphate" of Banu Umayya came to an end at the hands of Banu Abbās a branch of Banu Hāshim, the tribe of Muhammad, only to usher another dynastic monarchy styled as caliphate from 750 CE. This period is seen formative in Sunni Islam as the founders of the four schools viz, Abu Hanifa, Malik ibn Anas, Shāfi'i and Ahmad bin Hanbal all practised during this time, so also did Jafar al Sādiq who elaborated the doctrine of imāmate, the basis for the Shi'a religious thought. There was no clearly accepted formula for determining succession in the Abbasid caliphate. Two or three sons or other relatives of the dying caliph emerged as candidates to the throne, each supported by his own party of supporters. A trial of strength ensued and the most powerful party won and expected favours of the caliph they supported once he ascended the throne. The caliphate of this dynasty ended with the death of the Caliph al-Ma'mun in 833 CE, when the period of Turkish domination began.


title: Sunni Islam

text: The fall, at the end of World War I of the Ottoman Empire, the biggest Sunni empire for six centuries, brought the caliphate to an end. This resulted in Sunni protests in far off places including the Khilafat Movement in India, which was later on upon gaining independence from Britain divided into Sunni dominated Pakistan and secular India. Pakistan, the most populous Sunni state at its dawn, was later partitioned into Pakistan and Bangladesh. The demise of Ottoman caliphate also resulted in the emergence of Saudi Arabia, a dynastic absolute monarchy that championed the reformist doctrines of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab; the eponym of the Wahhabi movement. This was followed by a considerable rise in the influence of the Wahhabi, "Salafiyya", Islamist and Jihadist movements that revived the doctrines of the Hanbali theologian Taqi Al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328 C.E/ 661–728 A.H), a fervent advocate of the traditions of the Sunni Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. The expediencies of cold war resulted in the radicalisation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan who fought the communist regime backed by USSR forces in Afghanistan giving birth to the Taliban movement. After the fall of communist regime in Afghanistan and the ensuing civil war, Taliban wrestled power from the various Mujahidin factions in Afghanistan and formed a government under the leadership of Mohammed Omar, who was addressed as the Emir of the faithful, an honorific way of addressing the caliph. The Taliban regime was recognised by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia till after 9/11, perpetrated by Osama bin Laden – a Saudi national by birth and harboured by the Taliban – took place, resulting in a war on terror launched against the Taliban.


title: Sunni Islam

text: The sequence of events of the 20th century has led to resentment in some quarters of the Sunni community due to the loss of pre-eminence in several previously Sunni-dominated regions such as the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Balkans, the North Caucasus and the Indian sub continent. The latest attempt by a radical wing of Salafi-Jihadists to re-establish a Sunni caliphate was seen in the emergence of the militant group ISIL, whose leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is known among his followers as caliph and "Amir-al-mu'mineen", "The Commander of the Faithful". Jihadism is opposed from within the Muslim community (known as the "ummah" in Arabic) in all quarters of the world as evidenced by turnout of almost 2% of the Muslim population in London protesting against ISIL.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Following the puritan approach of Ibn Kathir, Muhammad Rashid Rida, etc. many contemporary "Tafsir" (exegetic treatises) downplay the earlier significance of Biblical material ("Isrā'iliyyāt"). Half of the Arab commentaries reject "Isrā'iliyyāt" in general, while Turkish tafsir usually partly allow referring to Biblical material. Nevertheless, most non-Arabic commentators regard them as useless or not applicable. A direct reference to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict could not be found. It remains unclear whether the refusal of "Isrā'iliyyāt" is motivated by political discourse or by traditionalist thought alone. The usage of "tafsir'ilmi" is another notable characteristic of modern Sunni tafsir. "Tafsir'ilmi" stands for alleged scientific miracles found in the Qur'an. In short, the idea is that the Qur'an contains knowledge about subjects an author of the 7th century could not possibly have. Such interpretations are popular among many commentators. Some scholars, such as the Commentators of Al-Azhar University, reject this approach, arguing the Qur'an is a text for religious guidance, not for science and scientific theories that may be disproved later; thus "tafsir'ilmi" might lead to interpreting Qur'anic passages as falsehoods. Modern trends of Islamic interpretation are usually seen as adjusting to a modern audience and purifying Islam from alleged alterings, some of which are believed to be intentional corruptions brought into Islam to undermine and corrupt its message.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Sunnis believe the companions of Muhammad to be reliable transmitters of Islam, since God and Muhammad accepted their integrity. Medieval sources even prohibit cursing or vilifying them. This belief is based upon prophetic traditions such as one narrated by Abdullah, son of Masud, in which Muhammad said: "The best of the people are my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them." Support for this view is also found in the Qur'an, according to Sunnis. Therefore, narratives of companions are also reliably taken into account for knowledge of the Islamic faith. Sunnis also believe that the companions were true believers since it was the companions who were given the task of compiling the Qur'an.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Sunni Islam does not have a formal hierarchy. Leaders are informal, and gain influence through study to become a scholar of Islamic law ("sharia") or Islamic theology ("Kalām"). Both religious and political leadership are in principle open to all Muslims. According to the Islamic Center of Columbia, South Carolina, anyone with the intelligence and the will can become an Islamic scholar. During Midday Mosque services on Fridays, the congregation will choose a well-educated person to lead the service, known as a Khateeb (one who speaks).


title: Sunni Islam

text: A study conducted by the "Pew Research Center" in 2010 and released January 2011 found that there are 1.62 billion Muslims around the world, and it is estimated over 85–90% are Sunni.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Regarding the question which dogmatic tendencies are to be assigned to Sunnism, there is no agreement among Muslim scholars. Since the early modern period, is the idea that a total of three groups belong to the Sunnis: 1. those named after Abu l-Hasan al-Aschʿari (d. 935) Ashʿarites, 2. those named after Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 941) named Maturidites and 3. a differently named third group, which is traditionalistic-oriented and rejects the rational discourse of Kalām advocated by the Maturidites and Ashʿarites. The Syrian scholar ʿAbd al-Baqi Ibn Faqih Fussa (d. 1661) calls this third traditionalist group the Hanbalites. The late Ottoman thinker İsmail Hakkı İzmirli (d. 1946), who agreed to dividing Sunnis into these three groups, called the traditionalist group Salafiyya, but also used "Athariyya" as an alternative term. For the Maturidiyya he gives "Nasafīya" as a possible alternative name. Another used for the traditionalist-oriented group is "people of Hadith" ("ahl al-ḥadīṯ"). It is used, for example, in the final document of the Grozny Conference. Only those "people of the Hadith" are assigned to Sunnism who practice "tafwīḍ", i.e. who refrain from interpreting the ambiguous statements of the Quran.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (873–935). This theological school of Aqeedah was embraced by many Muslim scholars and developed in parts of the Islamic world throughout history; al-Ghazali wrote on the creed discussing it and agreeing upon some of its principles.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Ash'ari theology stresses divine revelation over human reason. Contrary to the Mu'tazilites, they say that ethics cannot be derived from human reason, but that God's commands, as revealed in the "Quran" and the "Sunnah" (the practices of Muhammad and his companions as recorded in the traditions, or hadith), are the sole source of all morality and ethics.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Regarding the nature of God and the divine attributes, the Ash'ari rejected the Mu'tazili position that all Quranic references to God as having real attributes were metaphorical. The Ash'aris insisted that these attributes were as they "best befit His Majesty". The Arabic language is a wide language in which one word can have 15 different meanings, so the Ash'aris endeavor to find the meaning that best befits God and is not contradicted by the Quran. Therefore, when God states in the Quran, "He who does not resemble any of His creation", this clearly means that God cannot be attributed with body parts because He created body parts. Ash'aris tend to stress divine omnipotence over human free will and they believe that the Quran is eternal and uncreated.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Founded by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 944), the Maturidiyyah was the major tradition in Central Asia based on Hanafi-law. It is more influenced by Persian interpretations of Islam and less on the traditions established within Arabian culture. In contrast to the traditionalistic approach, Maturidism allows to reject hadiths based on reason alone. Nevertheless, revelation remains important to inform humans about that is beyond their intellectual limits, such as the concept of an afterlife. Ethics on the other hand, do not need prophecy or revelation, but can be understood by reason alone. One of the tribes, the Seljuk Turks, migrated to Turkey, where later the Ottoman Empire was established. Their preferred school of law achieved a new prominence throughout their whole empire although it continued to be followed almost exclusively by followers of the Hanafi school while followers of the Shafi and Maliki schools within the empire followed the Ash'ari and Athari schools of thought. Thus, wherever can be found Hanafi followers, there can be found the Maturidi creed.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Traditionalist or Athari theology is a movement of Islamic scholars who reject rationalistic Islamic theology ("kalam") in favor of strict textualism in interpreting the "Qur'an" and "sunnah". The name derives from "tradition" in its technical sense as translation of the Arabic word "hadith". It is also sometimes referred to as "athari" as by several other names.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Adherents of traditionalist theology believe that the "zahir" (literal, apparent) meaning of the "Qur'an" and the hadith have sole authority in matters of belief and law; and that the use of rational disputation is forbidden even if it verifies the truth. They engage in a literal reading of the "Qur'an", as opposed to one engaged in "ta'wil" (metaphorical interpretation). They do not attempt to conceptualize the meanings of the "Qur'an" rationally, and believe that their realities should be consigned to God alone ("tafwid"). In essence, the text of the Qur'an and Hadith is accepted without asking "how" or "Bi-la kaifa".


title: Sunni Islam

text: Traditionalist theology emerged among scholars of hadith who eventually coalesced into a movement called "ahl al-hadith" under the leadership of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. In matters of faith, they were pitted against Mu'tazilites and other theological currents, condemning many points of their doctrine as well as the rationalistic methods they used in defending them. In the tenth century al-Ash'ari and al-Maturidi found a middle ground between Mu'tazilite rationalism and Hanbalite literalism, using the rationalistic methods championed by Mu'tazilites to defend most tenets of the traditionalist doctrine. Although the mainly Hanbali scholars who rejected this synthesis were in the minority, their emotive, narrative-based approach to faith remained influential among the urban masses in some areas, particularly in Abbasid Baghdad.


title: Sunni Islam

text: While Ash'arism and Maturidism are often called the Sunni "orthodoxy", traditionalist theology has thrived alongside it, laying rival claims to be the orthodox Sunni faith. In the modern era, it has had a disproportionate impact on Islamic theology, having been appropriated by Wahhabi and other traditionalist Salafi currents and have spread well beyond the confines of the Hanbali school of law.


title: Sunni Islam

text: There were also Muslim scholars who wanted to limit the Sunni term to the "Ash'arites" and "Māturīdites" alone. For example, Murtadā az-Zabīdī (d. 1790) wrote in his commentary on al-Ghazalis "Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn": "When (sc. The term)" "ahl as-sunna wal jamaʿa" is used, the Ashʿarites and Māturīdites are meant. This position was also taken over by the Egyptian Fatwa Office in July 2013. In Ottoman times, many efforts were made to establish a good harmony between the teachings of the Ashʿarīya and the Māturīdīya. Finally, there were also scholars who regarded the Ashʿarites alone as Sunnis. For example, the Moroccan Sufi Ahmad ibn ʿAdschiba (d. 1809) stated in his commentary on Fatiha: “As far as the Sunnis are concerned, it is the Ashʿarites and those who follow in their correct belief.“


title: Sunni Islam

text: Conversely, there were also scholars who excluded the Ashʿarites from Sunnism. The Andalusian scholar Ibn Hazm (d. 1064) said that Abu l-Hasan al-Ashʿarī belonged to the Murji'a, namely those who were particularly far removed from the Sunnis in terms of faith. Syrian-Albanian Athari theologian Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani rejected extremism in excluding Ash'aris from Sunni Islam. He believed that despite that their fundamental differences from Atharis, not every Ash'ari is to be excluded from "Ahl al-Sunna wal Jama'ah", unless they openly disapprove of the doctrines of the "Salaf" ("mad'hab as-Salaf"). According to Albani:"I do not share [the view of] some of the noble scholars of the past and present that we say about a group from the [many] Islamic groups that it is not from "Ahlus-Sunnah" due to its deviation in one issue or another... as for whether the Ash’aris or the Maaturidis are from "Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah", I say that they are from "Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah" in many things related to "aqidah" but in other "aqidah" issues they have deviated away from "Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah.." I don’t hold that we should say that they are not from "Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah" whatsoever"


title: Sunni Islam

text: The Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328) distinguished in his work "Minhāj as-sunna" between Sunnis in the general sense ("ahl as-unna al-ʿāmma") and Sunnis in the special sense ("ahl as-sunna al-ḫāṣṣa"). Sunnis in the general sense are all Muslims who recognize the caliphate of the three caliphs (Abū Bakr, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān). In his opinion, this includes all Islamic groups except the Shiite Rafidites. Sunnis in the special sense are only the "people of the hadith" ("ahl al-ḥadīṯ").


title: Sunni Islam

text: İsmail Hakkı İzmirli, who took over the distinction between a broader and narrower circle of Sunnis from Ibn Taimiya, said that Kullabiyya and the Ashʿarīyya are Sunnis in the general sense, while the Salafiyya represent Sunnis in the specific sense. About the Maturidiyya he only says that they are closer to the Salafiyya than the Ashʿariyya because they excel more in Fiqh than in Kalām. The Saudi scholar Muhammad Ibn al-ʿUthaimin (d. 2001), who like Ibn Taimiya differentiated between Sunnis in general and special senses, also excluded the Asharites from the circle of Sunnis in the special sense and took the view that only the pious ancestors ("as-salaf aṣ-ṣāliḥ") who have agreed on the Sunnah belonged to this circle.


title: Sunni Islam

text: The Muʿtazilites are usually not regarded as Sunnis. Ibn Hazm, for example, contrasted them with the Sunnis as a separate group in his heresiographic work "al-Faṣl fi-l-milal wa-l-ahwāʾ wa-n-niḥal". In many medieval texts from the Islamic East, the "Ahl as-Sunna" are also differentiated to the Muʿtazilites. In 2010 the Jordanian "fatwa" office ruled out in a fatwa that the Muʿtazilites, like the Kharijites, represent a doctrine that is contrary to Sunnism. Ibn Taymiyya argued that the Muʿtazilites belong to the Sunnis in the general sense because they recognize the caliphate of the first three caliphs.


title: Sunni Islam

text: There is broad agreement that the Sufis are also part of Sunnism. This view can already be found in the Shafi'ite scholar Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi (d. 1037). In his heresiographical work " al-Farq baina l-firaq " he divided the Sunnis into eight different categories (" aṣnāf ") of people: 1. the theologians and Kalam Scholars, 2. the Fiqh scholars, 3. the traditional and Hadith scholars, 4. the Adab and language scholars, 5. the Koran – Scholars, 6. the Sufi ascetics (" az-zuhhād aṣ-ṣūfīya "), 7. those who perform the "ribat" and "jihad" against the enemies of Islam, 8. the general crowd. According to this classification, the Sufis are one of a total of eight groups within Sunnism, defined according to their religious specialization.


title: Sunni Islam

text: The Tunisian scholar Muhammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Bakkī (d. 1510) also included the Sufis in Sunnism. He divided the Sunnis into the following three groups according to their knowledge (" istiqrāʾ "):


title: Sunni Islam

text: Similarly, Murtadā az-Zabīdī stated elsewhere in his commentary on Ghazzali's "Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn" " that the Sunnis consisted of four groups (firaq"), namely the hadith scholars ("muḥaddiṯhūn), the Sufis, the Ashʿarites and the Māturīdites."


title: Sunni Islam

text: Some "ulema" wanted to exclude the Sufis from Sunnism. The Yemeni scholar ʿAbbās ibn Mansūr as-Saksakī (d. 1284) explained in his doxographic work " al-Burhān fī maʿrifat ʿaqāʾid ahl al-adyān " ("The evidence of knowledge of the beliefs of followers of different religions") about the Sufis: "They associate themselves with the Sunnis, but they do not belong to them, because they contradict them in their beliefs, actions and teachings." That is what distinguishes the Sufis from Sunnis according to as-Saksakī their orientation to the hidden inner meaning of the "Qur'an" and the "Sunnah". In this, he said, they resemble the Bātinites. According to the final document of the Grozny Conference, only those Sufis are to be regarded as Sunnis who are "people of pure Sufism" (" ahl at-taṣauwuf aṣ-ṣāfī ") in the knowledge, ethics and purification of the interior, according to Method as practiced by al-Junaid Al- Baghdadi and the "Imams of Guidance" (" aʾimma al-hudā ") who followed his path.


title: Sunni Islam

text: In the eleventh-century, Sufism, which had previously been a less "codified" trend in Islamic piety, began to be "ordered and crystallized" into "Tariqahs" (orders) which have continued until the present day. All these orders were founded by a major Sunni Islamic saint, and some of the largest and most widespread included the Qadiriyya (after Abdul-Qadir Gilani [d. 1166]), the Rifa'iyya (after Ahmed al-Rifa'i [d. 1182]), the Chishtiyya (after Moinuddin Chishti [d. 1236]), the Shadiliyya (after Abul Hasan ash-Shadhili [d. 1258]), and the Naqshbandiyya (after Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari [d. 1389]). Contrary to popular Orientalist depictions, neither the founders of these orders nor their followers considered themselves to be anything other than orthodox Sunni Muslims, Many of the most eminent defenders of Islamic orthodoxy, such as 'Abd al-Qadir Jilani, Al-Ghazali, Sultan Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Al-Ayyubi (Saladin) were connected with Sufism." The Salafi and Wahhabi strands of Sunnism do not accept many mystical practices associated with the contemporary Sufi orders.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Interpreting Islamic law by deriving specific rulings – such as how to pray – is commonly known as Islamic jurisprudence. The schools of law all have their own particular tradition of interpreting this jurisprudence. As these schools represent clearly spelled out methodologies for interpreting Islamic law, there has been little change in the methodology with regard to each school. While conflict between the schools was often violent in the past, the four Sunni schools recognize each other's validity and they have interacted in legal debate over the centuries.


title: Sunni Islam

text: There are many intellectual traditions within the field of "Shari'ah" (Islamic law), often referred to as "Madh'habs" (legal schools). These varied traditions reflect differing viewpoints on some laws and obligations within Islamic law. While one school may see a certain act as a religious obligation, another may see the same act as optional. These schools aren't regarded as sects; rather, they represent differing viewpoints on issues that are not considered the core of Islamic belief. Historians have differed regarding the exact delineation of the schools based on the underlying principles they follow.


title: Sunni Islam

text: Many traditional scholars saw Sunni Islam in two groups: "Ahl al-Ra'y", or "people of reason", due to their emphasis on scholarly judgment and discourse; and "Ahl al-Hadith", or "people of traditions", due to their emphasis on restricting juristic thought to only what is found in scripture. Ibn Khaldun defined the Sunni schools as three: the Hanafi school representing reason, the Ẓāhirīte school representing tradition, and a broader, middle school encompassing the Shafi'ite, Malikite and Hanbalite schools.