Hanif

{{Short description|Islamic term for a pre-Islamic Arabian monotheist}} {{italic title}} {{About|the Islamic term for pre-Islamic Abrahamic monotheists|the Islamic school of jurisprudence|Hanafi|other uses}} {{Broader|Monotheism in pre-Islamic Arabia}}

In Islam, the terms '''{{transliteration|ar|ḥanīf}}''' ({{abbr|{{sc|sing}}|singular form}}; {{langx|ar|حنيف}}, {{Literal translation|a renunciate <nowiki>[</nowiki>of idolatry<nowiki>]</nowiki>}}) and '''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|ḥunafā'}}''' ({{abbr|{{sc|plur}}|plural form}}; {{lang|ar|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,{{sfn|Köchler|1982|p=29}} thus setting themselves apart from what is called {{transliteration|ar|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 {{transliteration|ar| hanīf}} appears 10 times in the Quran, and the form {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ḥunafā'}} twice.<ref name="Bell-1949-120">{{cite journal |last1 =Bell |first1 =Richard |title =Muslim World |journal =Muslim World |date=1949 |volume=XXIX |pages=120–125}}</ref> According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad himself was a {{transliteration|ar|ḥanīf}} (before he met the angel Gabriel) and was a direct descent from Abraham's first son Ishmael.<ref name=":0">See: *Louis Jacobs (1995), p. 272 *Turner (2005), p. 16</ref> 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 {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ḥunafā'}}, underscoring their God-given infallibility.<ref name=":0" />

==Etymology== The term {{transliteration|ar|ḥanīf}} comes from the Arabic root {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ḥ-n-f}} meaning "to incline, to decline"<ref name="Lane, 1893">Lane, 1893</ref> or "to turn or bend sideways"<ref name="Wehr-210">{{cite book |last1=Wehr |first1=Hans |title=Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic |page=210 |url=https://archive.org/details/HansWehrEnglishArabicDctionarySearchableFormat/page/n223 |access-date=28 October 2019}}</ref> from the Syriac root of the different meaning “to deceive, to turn pagan, to lead into paganism”. The Syriac word refers to pagans and deceivers.<ref name="Lane, 1893"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon |url=https://cal.huc.edu/oneentry.php?lemma=xnp%20V&cits=all |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=cal.huc.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon |url=https://cal.huc.edu/oneentry.php?lemma=xnp+N&cits=all |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=cal.huc.edu}}</ref><ref>J. Payne Smith (Mrs. Margoliouth), ''A Compendious Syriac Dictionary'' (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1903) p. 149 [from sedra.bethmardutho.org, tagged by Aron M. Tillema, accessed on Dec. 06, 2023].</ref> The Arabic is defined as "true believer, orthodox; one who scorns the false creeds surrounding him/her and profess the true religion" by The Arabic-English ''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic''.<ref name="Wehr-210"/>

According to Francis Edward Peters, in verse {{cite quran|3|67|style=nosup|expand=no}} of the Quran, ''hanif'' has been translated as "upright person", and outside the Quran as, "to incline towards a right state or tendency".{{sfn|Peters|1994|pp=122–124}} According to W. Montgomery Watt, ''hanif'' appears to have been used earlier by Jews and Christians in reference to "pagans" and applied to followers of an old Hellenized Syrian and Arabian religion and used to taunt early Muslims.{{sfn|Watt|1974|pp=117–119}}

Michael Cook states, "its exact sense is obscure," but the Quran uses ''hanif'' "in contexts suggestive of a pristine monotheism, which it tends to contrast with (latter-day) Judaism and Christianity". In the Quran {{transliteration|ar|ḥanīf}} is associated "strongly with Abraham, but never with Moses or Jesus".<ref name="Cook-1983-39">{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Michael |title=Muhammad |date=1983 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0192876058 |page=39}}</ref> The unique association of ḥanīf with Abraham underscores his foundational role in the development of monotheistic faith and his exemplary status in the Islamic tradition.

Oxford Islamic Studies online defines {{transliteration|ar|ḥanīf}} as "one who is utterly upright in all of his or her affairs, as exemplified by the model of Abraham"; and that prior to the arrival of Islam "the term was used [...] to designate pious people who accepted monotheism but did not join the Jewish or Christian communities."<ref name="Hanif-OISO">{{cite web |title=Hanif |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e800 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180602131703/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e800 |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 2, 2018 |website=Oxford Islamic Studies Online |access-date=28 October 2019}}</ref>

Others translate {{transliteration|ar|DIN|Hanīfiyyah}} as the law of Ibrahim; the verb {{transliteration|ar|DIN|taḥannafa}} as "to turn away from [idolatry]". Others maintain that the {{transliteration|ar|ḥanīf}} followed the "religion of Ibrahim, the {{transliteration|ar|hanif}}, the Muslim[.]"{{sfn|Watt|1974|pp=117–119}} It has been theorized by Watt that the verbal term ''Islam'', arising from the participle form of ''Muslim'' (meaning "surrendered to God"), may have only arisen as an identifying descriptor for the religion in the late Medinan period.{{sfn|Watt|1974|pp=117–119}}

==Historicity== According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "there is no evidence that a true {{transliteration|ar|ḥanīf}} cult existed in pre-Islamic Arabia."<ref name="EB-hanif">{{cite web |title=Hanif |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/hanif |access-date=23 February 2020 |website=britannica.com}}</ref>{{Additional citation needed|date=December 2024}}

A Greek source from the 5th century CE, ''The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen'', speaks of how "Abraham had bequeathed a monotheist religion" to the Arabs, who are described being descended "from Ishmael and Hagar" and adhering to certain practices of the Jews, such as shunning pork consumption.<ref name="IROoI2000:112">Ibn Rawandi, "Origins of Islam", 2000: p.112</ref>

Sozomen, a 5th-century Roman lawyer and historian of the Christian Church, is thought to have been a native of Gaza City<ref name="PCMTatRoI1987:190-91">Crone, ''Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam'', 1987: p.190-91</ref> and a native speaker of Arabic{{Cn|date=October 2024}} Therefore, according to Ibn Rawandi, he provides a "reliable source" that Arabs—at least in northwest Arabia—were familiar with the idea there were pre-Islamic "Abrahamic monotheists ({{transliteration|ar|ḥanīf}}) [...] whether this was true of Arabs throughout the [Arabian] peninsula it is impossible to say."<ref name="IROoI2000:112" />

Yehuda Nevo, a revisionist Islamic historian who has called into question several aspects of the traditional islamic narrative, interprets the Hanif movement as part of a broader pre-Islamic monotheistic trend in Arabia that eventually morphed into what he names Mohammadian Islam following the Islamic conquests.<ref>https://archive.org/details/yehuda-d.-nevo-judith-koren-crossroads-to-islam-the-origins-of-the-arab-religion/mode/2up page 199</ref>

==List of Arabian monotheists== {{more citations needed section|date=November 2011}}

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "some of Muḥammad's relatives, contemporaries, and early supporters were called {{transliteration|ar|hanifs}}"<ref name="EB-hanif" /> – examples including Waraqah ibn Nawfal, "a cousin of the Prophet’s first wife, Khadija bint Khuwaylid,<ref name="EB-hanif" /> and Umayyah ibn Abī aṣ-Ṣalt, "an early 7th-century Arab poet".<ref name="EB-hanif" />

According to the website "In the Name of Allah", the term {{transliteration|ar|ḥanīf}} is used "twelve times in the Quran", but Abraham/Ibrahim is "the only person to have been explicitly identified with the term." He is mentioned "in reference to" {{transliteration|ar|ḥanīf}} eight times in the Quran.<ref name="ItNoA">{{cite web |title=hanif |url=http://inthenameofallah.org/Hanif.html |website=In the Name of Allah |access-date=28 October 2019}}</ref>

Among those who are thought to have been {{transliteration|ar|DIN|ḥunafā'}} are:{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

*All the prophets and messengers after Abraham according to Islamic tradition *Muhammad *Old Najranites *Seven Sleepers *Sa'id bin Zayd *Khaled bin Sinan *Ilyas ibn Mudar *Hashim ibn Abd Manaf *Umayya ibn Abi as-Salt

The four friends in Mecca from ibn Ishaq's account:

*Zayd ibn Amr: rejected both Judaism and Christianity{{sfn|Peters|1994|pp=122–124}} *Waraqah ibn Nawfal: was a Nestorian priest and patrilineal third cousin to Muhammad. He died before Muhammad declared his Prophethood.{{sfn|Peters|1994|pp=122–124}} *Uthman ibn al-Huwayrith: travelled to the Byzantine Empire and converted to Christianity{{sfn|Peters|1994|pp=122–124}} *Ubayd-Allah ibn Jahsh: early Muslim convert who emigrated to the Kingdom of Aksum.{{sfn|Peters|1994|pp=122–124}}

{{transliteration|ar|Ḥanīf}} opponents of Islam from Ibn Isḥāq's account:

*Abū 'Amar 'Abd Amr ibn Sayfī: a leader of the tribe of Banu Aws at Medina and builder of the "Mosque of the Schism" mentioned in the Quranic verse {{cite quran|9|107|style=ref|expand=no}} and later allied with the Quraysh then moved to Ta'if and onto Syria after subsequent early Muslim conquests.{{sfn|Peters|1994|pp=122–124}} *Abu Qays ibn al-Aslaṭ{{sfn|Peters|1994|pp=122–124}}

==See also== *Banu Khuza'a *Noahidism, similar concept with Judaism *Abrahamites *Monotheism in pre-Islamic Arabia *Perennial Philosophy *People of the Book *Prisca theologia, equivalent concept in esoteric Christianity *Rahmanism *Urmonotheismus

==Notes== {{reflist}}

== References == * {{Cite book |last1=Ambros |first1=Arne A |last2=Procháczka |first2=Stephan |year=2004 |title=A Concise Dictionary of Koranic Arabic |publisher=Reichert }} *{{cite book |last1=Crone |first1=Patricia |title=Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam |year=1987 |publisher=Princeton University Press |url=http://www.almuslih.org/Library/Crone,%20P%20-%20Meccan%20Trade%20and%20the%20Rise%20of%20Islam.pdf |ref=PCMTatRoI1987 |access-date=2020-02-23 |archive-date=2016-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528221729/http://almuslih.org/Library/Crone,%20P%20-%20Meccan%20Trade%20and%20the%20Rise%20of%20Islam.pdf |url-status=dead }} * {{Cite book |last=Hawting |first=G. R. |author-link=G. R. Hawting |year=1999 |title=The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History |publisher=Cambridge University Press }} *{{cite book |editor1-last=Ibn Warraq |title=The Quest for the Historical Muhammad |date=2000 |publisher=Prometheus |pages=89–124 |chapter=2. Origins of Islam: A Critical Look at the Sources |ref=IROoI2000}} * {{Cite book |last=Kaltner |first=John |year=1999 |title=Ishmael Instructs Isaac: An Introduction to the Qu'ran for Bible Readers |publisher=Liturgical Press |isbn=0-8146-5882-2 }} * {{Cite book |editor-last=Köchler |editor-first=Hans |editor-link=Hans Köchler |year=1982 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMuipwd5MTEC |title=Concept of Monotheism in Islam & Christianity |publisher=International Progress Organization |isbn=3-7003-0339-4 }} * {{Cite book |last=Peters |first=F. E. |author-link=Francis Edward Peters |year=1994 |title=Muhammad and the Origins of Islam |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=0-7914-1875-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/muhammadorigins00pete }} * {{Cite book |last=Watt |first=William Montgomery |author-link=William Montgomery Watt |year=1974 |title=Muhammad: prophet and statesman |publisher=Oxford University Press US |isbn=0-19-881078-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/muhammadprophets00watt }}

Category:Quranic words and phrases Category:Abrahamic religions Category:Monotheistic religions