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Hanif (Arabic: حنيف‎, Ḥanīf; plural: حنفاء, ḥunafā') is a term that refers to those who maintain the pure monothestic beliefs of the patriarch Ibrahim. More specifically, in Islamic thought it refers to the people during the period known as the Age of Ignorance, who were seen to have rejected idolatry and retained some or all of the tenets of the religion of Ibrahim which was "submission to God" (Arabic: Allah) in its purest form.^[1]

Etymology and History of the term[link]

The term is from the Arabic root ḥ-n-f meaning "to incline, to decline" (Lane 1893) from the Syriac root of the same meaning. The ḥanīfiyyah is the law of Ibrahim; the verb taḥannafa means "to turn away from (idolatry)", with a secondary and subsequent meaning of "to become circumcised". In the verse 3:27 of the Quran it has also been translated as "upright person" and outside the Quran as "to incline towards a right state or tendency".^[2] It appears to have been used earlier by Jews and Christians in reference to 'pagans' and applied to followers of an old Hellenized Syro-Arabian religion and used to taunt early Muslims.^[3]

Others maintained that they followed the "...religion of Ibrahim, the hanif, the Muslim..."^[3] 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.^[3] However, the word "Islam" had been used in Quran by God himself in Sura 5, Ayat 3.

List of hanifs[link]

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This is a minor list of those who submitted their whole selves to God in the way of Abraham:

• All the prophets of God
• Hashim ibn Abd al-Manaf
• Abdul Mutallib
• ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib
• Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib
• Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib
• Ali ibn abu Talib
• Alexander Herbst
• Said ibn Zayd

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

• Zaid ibn Amr ibn Nufail: rejected both Judaism and Christianity^[2]
• Waraqah ibn Nawfal: converted to Christianity^[2]
• Uthman ibn Huwarith: travelled to the Byzantine Empire and converted to Christianity^[2]
• Ubayd-Allah ibn Jahsh: early Muslim convert who emigrated to Abyssinia and then converted to Christianity.^[2]

Hanif opponents of Islam from Ibn Ishaq's account:

• Abu Amir Abd Amr ibn Sayfi: a leader of the tribe of Banu Aus at Medina and builder of the "Mosque of the Schism" mentioned in the Quranic verse 9:107 and later allied with the Quraysh then moved to Taif and onto Syria after subsequent Muslim conquests.^[2]
• Abu Qays ibn al-Aslat^[2]

As a name[link]

Ḥanīf, capitalized, can also be a common Arabic proper name used for its more literary and poetic definition, "true believer" or "righteous one". The name is used throughout the Muslim world including non-Arabic speaking cultures.

See also[link]

• Banu Khuza'a
• virtuous pagan
• Urmonotheismus

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Hawting G R 1999: The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History, Cambridge University Press
• Ambros Arne A & Procháczka Stephan 2004: A Concise Dictionary of Koranic Arabic", Reichert
• Kochler, Hans (EDT),Concept of Monotheism in Islam & Christianity, I.P.O., Jan 1, 1982, ISBN 3-7003-0339-4
• William Montgomery Watt, "Muhammad: prophet and statesman", Oxford University Press US, Jun 1, 1974 ,ISBN 0-19-881078-4
• F. E. (Francis E.) Peters, "Muhammad and the Origins of Islam", SUNY Press, Jul 1, 1994, ISBN 0-7914-1875-8
• John Kaltner, "Ishmael Instructs Isaac: An Introduction to the Qu'ran for Bible Readers", Liturgical Press, Oct 31, 1999, ISBN 0-8146-5882-2

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Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh (Punjabi: میاں محمد بخش ) was a Sufi saint and a Punjabi/Pahari poet; he belonged to the Qadiri tariqah. He is especially renowned as the author of a book of poetry called Saiful Malūk. He was born in a village called Khari Sharif, situated near Mirpur, Azad Kashmir.

Lineage[link]

He was a fourth generation descendant of Damriyan Wali Sarkar, who is buried in Khari Sharif. Damriyan Wali Sarkar's khalīfah was Dīn Muhammad; and his khalīfah was Mīān Shamsuddīn, who had three sons: Mīān Bahāval Bakhsh, Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh - the subject of this article -, and Mīān 'Alī Bakhsh. Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh's ancestors originated in Gujrat, but had later settled in the Mirpur District of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. He was a poet of Phari language (widely spoken in different parts of Kashmir.

Dispute about date of birth[link]

There is considerable disagreement about his year of birth. Mahbūb 'Alī Faqīr Qādirī, in a biography printed as an appendix to the text of Saiful Malūk gives the date as 1246 AH (1826 AD), a date also followed by the Shāhkār Islāmī Encyclopedia; 1830 and 1843 are suggested in other works. Mīān Muhammad Bakhsh himself states in his magnum opus - Saiful Malūk - that he completed the work in the month of Ramadan, 1279 AH (1863 AD), and that he was then thirty-three years of age. Hence, he must have been born in 1829 or 1830.

Upbringing[link]

He was brought up in a very religious environment, and received his early education at home. He was later sent with his elder brother, Mīān Bahāval, to the nearby village of Samwal Sharīf to study religious sciences, especially the science of Hadith in the madrassah of Hāfiz Muhammad 'Alī. Hāfiz Muhammad 'Alī had a brother, Hāfiz Nāsir, who was a majzub, and had renounced worldly matters; this dervish resided at that time in the mosque at Samwal Sharīf. From childhood Mīān Muhammad had exhibited a penchant for poetry, and was especially fond of reading Yūsuf ō Zulaikhā by Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami. During his time at the madrassah, Hāfiz Nāsir would often beg him to sing some lines from Jami's poetry, and upon hearing it so expertly rendered would invariably fall into a state of spiritual intoxication.

Mīān Muhammad was still only fifteen years old when his father, falling seriously ill, and realizing that he was on his deathbed, called all his students and local notaries to see him. Mīān Shamsuddīn told his visitors that it was his duty to pass on the spiritual lineage that he had received through his family from Pīr-e Shāh Ghāzī Qalandar Damriyan Wali Sarkar; he pointed to his own son, Mīān Muhammad, and told those assembled that he could find nobody more suitable than he to whom he might award this privilege. Everybody agreed, the young man's reputation had already spread far and wide. Mīān Muhammad, however, spoke up and disagreed, saying that he could not bear to stand by and allow his elder brother Bahāvul to be deprived of the honour. The old man was filled with so much love for his son that he stood up and leaving his bed grasped his son by the arms; he led him to one corner and made him face the approximate direction of Baghdad, and then he addressed the founder of their Sufi Order, Shaikh 'Abdul-Qādir Jīlānī, presenting his son to him as his spiritual successor. Shortly after this incident his father died. Mīān Muhammad continued to reside in his family home for a further four years, then at the age of nineteen he moved into the khānqāh, where he remained for the rest of his life. Both his brothers combined both religion and worldly affairs in their lives, but he was only interested in spirituality, and never married - unlike them.

Formal pledge of allegiance[link]

Despite the fact that he had essentially been made a khalīfah of his father, he realized that he still needed to make a formal pledge of allegiance or bay'ah to a Sufi master. Having completed his formal education he began to travel, seeking out deserted locations where he would busy himself in prayer and spiritual practices, shunning the company of his fellow-men. He took the Sufi pledge of allegiance or bay'ah with Hazrat Ghulām Muhammad, who was the khalīfah of Bābā Badūh Shāh Abdāl, the khalīfah of Hājī Bagāsher (of Darkālī Mamuri Sharīf, near Kallar Syedan District Rawalpindi), the khalīfah again of Dumriyan Wali Sarkar. He is also said to have travelled for a while to Srinagar, where he benefitted greatly from Shaikh Ahmad Valī.

Poetic talents and works[link]

Once he had advanced a little along the Sufi way he became more and more interested in composing poetry, and one of the first things he penned was a qasidah (quatrain) in praise of his spiritual guide. Initially he preferred to write siharfis and duhras, but then he advanced to composing stories in verse. His poetry is essentially written in the Pothohari dialect of Panjabi, and utilizes a rich vocabulary of Persian and Arabic words.

His works include: Siharfi, Sohni Meheinval, Tuhfah-e Miran, Tuhfah-e- Rasuliyah, Shireen Farhad, Mirza Sahiban, Sakhi Khavass Khan, Shah Mansur, Gulzar-e Faqir, Hidayatul Muslimin,Panj Ganj, Masnavi-e Nīrang-e ‘Ishq. He also wrote a commentary on the Arabic Qasidat-ul-Burda of al-Busiri and his most famous work, entitled Safarul ‘Ishq (Journey of Love), but better known as Saiful Maluk.

Death[link]

He died on the 7th day of the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah 1324 AH (1907 AD), and was buried in Khari Sharif, not far away from his great great grandfather, Damriyan Wali Sarkar. To this day many people visit his tomb with the intention of receiving spiritual blessings.

References[link]

Shahkar Islami Encyclopedia: Syed Qasim Mahmood. (Lahore, n.d.) [In Urdu.]

Sharh-e Kalam-e Mian Muhammad Bakhsh Saiful Maluk O Badi’ul Jamal: Abul Kashif Qadiri. (Lahore, n.d.) [In Urdu.]

External links[link]

• Full text of Saiful Malūk
• The Rumi of Kashmir: Mian Muhammad Bakhsh Qadiri
• Short Documentary on Mian Muhammad Bakhsh

Mohammed Hanif (born November 1964 in Okara, Pakistan) is a Pakistani writer and journalist.

Life[link]

He was born in Okara. He graduated from East Pakistan Air Force Academy as a pilot officer, but subsequently left to pursue a career in journalism.^[1] He initially worked for Newsline and wrote for The Washington Post and India Today. He is a graduate of the University of East Anglia.^[2] In 1996, he moved to London to work for the BBC. Later, he became the head of the BBC's Urdu service in London.^[3] He moved back to Pakistan in 2008.^[4]

Works[link]

His first novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008) was shortlisted for the 2008 Guardian First Book Award^[5] and longlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize^[6]. It won the 2009 Commonwealth Book Prize in the Best First Book category^[7] and the 2008 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize^[8].

Hanif has also written for the stage and screen, including a feature film, The Long Night (2002)^[9], a BBC radio play, What Now, Now That We Are Dead?, and the stage play The Dictator's Wife (2008)^[10]. His second novel, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, was published in 2011^[11].

Bibliography[link]

Films[link]

• The Long Night (Script) (2002)

Novels[link]

• A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008)
• Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (2011)

Plays[link]

• What Now, Now That We Are Dead? (radio play)
• The Dictator's Wife (2008)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mohammed Hanif

• Booker Prize Interview
• An interview with M. Hanif on "Our Lady of Alice Bhatti"
• Mohammed Hanif: My Country, Caving to the Taliban
• Ten Myths About Pakistan- Times of India
• Audio slideshow interview with Mohammed Hanif talking about A Case of Exploding Mangoes on The Interview Online
• Audio: Mohammed Hanif in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion programme The Forum
• "Mohammed Hanif on being longlisted for the Man Booker", manbookerprize.com
• Interview with Mohammed Hanif: "People Did Not Want the Taliban"
• Interview
• Mohammad Hanif Articles on BBC Urdu
• Interview with Papercuts literary magazine on writing technique, elitism in Pakistani writing in English and hypocrisy in Pakistani society

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