The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2371 page)

Sunday
.

As the Christian weekly day of worship it may perhaps be attested in the New Testament (Acts 20. 7; Revelations 1. 10: see
LORD'S DAY
), but emerges clearly in Rome in the 2nd cent. It was early understood as a weekly commemoration of Christ's resurrection on the first day of the week, but it may also owe something to the early Christians' desire to distance themselves from Jewish customs and worship on a day other than the
Sabbath
.

 
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(Chin., Shun-tao). The first Buddhist missionary to Kogury
, in Korea. Sundo travelled to Kogury
in 372, the second year of King Sosurim's reign (371–84), with an envoy dispatched by King Fu Chien (r. 357–85) of the Former Ch’in dynasty (351–94), presenting Buddhist images and scriptures to the Kogury
court. (Another tradition holds that Sundo came from the Eastern Ch’in (317–420) rather than the Former Ch’in.) In either case, this event is regarded as the first introduction of Buddhism to Korea.

 
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(Arab., ‘custom’). Customary practice which, in Islam, may refer to both bad and good examples in the past. But supremely the sunna refers to the way in which the Prophet Mu
ammad and his Companions (
ah
ba
) lived, and to what they said and did (attending also to that concerning which they were silent). Thus Qur’
n is the fundamental authority, but the sunna forms the first living commentary on what Qur’
n means, and thus becomes equally the foundation for Muslim life: the
sunnat al-nab
, the ‘example of the prophet’, controls Muslim life even in small details. Non-Shi‘ite Muslims are therefore known as
Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-jam
‘a
, the people of the sunna and of the gathered assembly, i.e. Sunnis. Shi‘ites (
Sh
‘a
) share most of the sunna with them, but place emphasis on the role of the Im
m in guiding the community, and they also accuse Sunnis of suppressing
ad
th
which support Sh
‘a beliefs and practices.