2.135 – The creed of Abraham the Ḥanīf

This is the first appearance of Ḥanīf, a word that appears ten times in the Quran, mostly in association with Abraham. Both Muslim confessional and non-Muslim scholars have made great efforts to understand this word, but all are limited by the lack of Arabic literature contemporary with the Quran and the lack of non-quranic support for the story of Abraham’s presence in Arabia. English translations render Ḥanīf as “upright” or “a man of pure faith,” and some scholars suggest the word indicates a kind of ancient monotheism unconnected with either Jewish or Christian faith.

Enquiring into the origin of Ḥanīf in Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’ān, Arthur Jeffery suggested that the term came from the Syriac word ḥanpā, meaning “heathen”.