Hanifism

Much ink has been spilled by scholars in an attempt to determine the precise historical referent of the Qur'anic term hanif. Rather than review the scholarship in question, I will simply state that it is largely inconclusive. Perhaps the most judicious summary of the results of the research to date has been provided by Andrew Rippin:

"...the term hanif in the Qur'an speaks of a spiritual attitude and to go beyond that is a shaky proposition at best. Hanif reflects a notion of a basic religious impulse in humanity towards dedication to the one God. This is part of an overall social and ritual religious context, for sure, but more importantly, it is the basis of the Qur'anic ideology of belief which is embodied in the myth of Abraham and captured in the word muslim [note the lower case 'm']." Andrew Rippin, The Qur'an and its Interpretive Tradition, Aldershot: Ashgate (2001), 161.

In this passage, I take exception only to Rippin's phrase "Qur'anic ideology of belief which is embodied in the myth of Abraham." I would argue that to speak of "belief" in this context misses the point of the myth of Abraham and, likewise, misses the point of Abraham's "hanifism" which indicates not "belief" but, rather, inclination or, possibly, orientation.

Abraham's piety was, after all, refreshingly minimalist when it came to "belief," and his relationship to his god was, as Walter Kaufmann observed long ago, one of intimacy (see Kaufmann's Critique of Religion and Philosophy, sec. VIII).

The Qur'an correlates Abraham's hanifism with his intimate relation to the Divine at 4:125. Abraham submits to, trusts in, inclines towards, and is an intimate friend of his god. The centrality of creedal affirmations are peculiar to post-Constantinian Christianity--not the way of Abraham.

Hanifism is not an "ideology of belief" but what Rilke termed "a direction of the heart" (see Kaufmann, ibid.). As such, it is the religious mode most suited to the humanist.