The hanifs: Abraham's 'pure monotheism'
c. c. 570 – c. 632
Place: mecca
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The Qur'anic usage is attested. The pre-Islamic hanifs come from Islamic-era tradition. What the word originally meant is a scholarly hypothesis.
The Qur'an calls Abraham a hanif, 'neither Jew nor Christian' (Q 3:67). Islamic tradition names a few Meccans before Islam who rejected idols and searched for Abraham's religion. Whether these hanifs were a real movement, and what the word meant, are long-running questions.
People named here
- Zayd ibn 'Amr
- Waraqa ibn Nawfal
- 'Ubayd Allah ibn Jahsh
- 'Uthman ibn al-Huwayrith
- Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt
Where scholars disagree
For
- François de Blois — BSOAS 2002: 'hanif' comes from Syriac hanpa ('pagan/gentile'), so 'Abraham the gentile' believer
- Andrew Rippin — 'RḤMNN and the Ḥanīfs' (1991): links hanif terminology with a pre-Islamic 'Rahman' monotheism
Against
No names on this side.
Links
Text and wording
Out
Zayd is the model hanif in tradition.
includes
traditionalOut
Waraqa ibn Nawfal, Khadija's Christian cousin
Ibn Ishaq lists Waraqa among four hanifs who became Christians or seekers.
includes
traditionalOut
'Ubayd Allah ibn Jahsh, the hanif who became a Christian in Ethiopia
'Ubayd Allah is listed as a hanif and is said to have become a Christian in Ethiopia.
includes
traditionalOut
Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt, monotheist poet of Ta'if
Umayya is often grouped with the monotheist seekers.
includes
traditionalOut
Qur'an, Sura 3 (Al 'Imran): Mary's family and Jesus
The Qur'an's Abraham is 'hanif, neither Jew nor Christian' (3:67).
vocabulary
attested
Sources
- Qur'an 3:67 (Abraham as hanif)
Quran.com. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- François de Blois, 'Naṣrānī (Ναζωραῖος) and ḥanīf (ἐθνικός): Studies on the Religious Vocabulary of Christianity and of Islam', BSOAS 65.1 (2002), 1–30
Cambridge UP. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Andrew Rippin, 'RḤMNN and the Ḥanīfs', in Islamic Studies Presented to Charles J. Adams (1991)
Brill. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Wikipedia: Hanif
Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0). Accessed 2026-11-11.