Hanif

In Islam, a ḥanīf (Arabic: حنيف, romanized: ḥanīf; plural: حنفاء, ḥunafā'), meaning "renunciate", is someone who maintains the pure monotheism of the patriarch Abraham. More specifically, in Islamic thought, renunciates were the people who, during the pre-Islamic period or Jahiliyyah, were seen to have renounced idolatry and retained some or all of the tenets of the religion of Abraham (إبراهيم, Ibrāhīm), which was submission to God in its purest form.^[1] The word is found twelve times in the Quran (ten times in its singular form and twice in the plural form) and Islamic tradition tells of a number of individuals who were ḥunafā.^[2] According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad himself was a ḥanīf and a descendant of Ishmael, son of Abraham.^[3]