(Arabic, plural حنفاء)'s an Arabic term that refers to pre-Islamic non-Jewish or non-Christian Arabian monotheists. More specifically, in Islamic thought it refers to the Arabs during the (pre-Islamic) period known as the Jāhiliyya or "Ignorance", who were seen to have rejected Shirk (polytheism) and retained some or all of the true tenets of the monotheist religion of Ibrahim (Abraham) Etymology and History of the term The term's from the Arabic root meaning… (More on Hanif)