Hanif
In Islam, the terms ḥanīf (SING; Arabic: حنيف, lit. ‘a renunciate [of idolatry]’) and ḥunafā’ (PLUR; حنفاء) are primarily used to refer to pre-Islamic Arabians who were Abrahamic monotheists. Muslims regard these people favorably for shunning Arabian polytheism and instead solely worshipping the God of Abraham, thus setting themselves apart from what is called jahiliyyah. However, they were not associated with Judaism or Christianity; instead exemplifying what they perceived as the unaltered beliefs and morals of Abraham.
The form hanīf appears 10 times in the Quran, and the form ḥunafā’ twice. According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad himself was a ḥanīf (before he met the angel Gabriel) and a direct descendant of Abraham’s eldest son Ishmael.
Likewise, Islam regards all Islamic prophets and messengers before Muhammad — that is, those affiliated with Judaism and/or Christianity, such as Moses and Jesus — as ḥunafā’, underscoring their God-given infallibility.
Ḥanīf monotheism is a term for the pure, natural monotheism attributed to Abraham in the Quran, which is the belief in and worship of a single God based on individual insight, rather than through a specific religious law or scripture. It represents the concept of an original monotheism with which people are naturally created, that predates Judaism and Christianity and was later preserved by Islam.
Key aspects of ḥanīf monotheism
- Natural belief: It is understood as an innate disposition to worship one God, a natural constitution (fiṭra) that everyone is born with.
- Abrahamic roots: Abraham is the quintessential ḥanīf because he was believed to have reached monotheism through his own reason and insight, rather than being a follower of a prior religious law.
- Pre-Islamic origins: The term ḥanīf is used in the Quran to refer to those who, like Abraham, were monotheists before the revelation of Islam. Other figures, like Muhammad’s ancestors, are also considered to have been ḥanīf.
- Monotheism and Polytheism: The term is often used in a polemical context, distinguishing the ḥanīf from polytheists (mushriks) and from the Jews and Christians of their time, suggesting they had distorted the original, pure monotheism.
- Connection to Islam: In the Quranic context, the ḥanīf faith is considered to be the same as the pure monotheistic religion that Islam later codified and spread. The Prophet Muhammad is instructed to adopt this ḥanīf stance by setting his face toward the true religion.
AI responses may include mistakes.
[1] https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/EQO/EQCOM-00080.xml
[2] https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1354673635&disposition=inline
[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zr4r97h/revision/6
[4] https://www.orphansinneed.org.uk/news/who-was-prophet-ibrahim-as-abraham/
[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicQuran/comments/nq2k4u/origin_of_the_term_hanifhanifa/