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Art. XXVIII.—The words ‘Ḥanīf and ‘Muslim’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Charles J. Lyall
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Extract

In the issue of this Journal for July, 1903 (pp. 467–493), Professor D. S. Margoliouth propounds a theory in explanation of the words Muslim and Ḥanīf, used in the Ḳur'ān, which is thus stated:—

“The suggestion, then, which I should offer for the explanation of these terms is that some twenty years before Mohammed's mission some sort of natural monotheism was preached by Musaylimah, whose followers being called Muslims [after the preacher's name] and Ḥanīfs [from the tribe of Ḥanīfah to which he belonged], these words were supposed to signify monotheist, and as such were adopted by Mohammed, who, owing to the comparative obscurity of Musaylimah, had at least at first no knowledge of their origin, and afterwards felt bound to assert positively that they were both in use in Abraham's time.”

Type
Original Communications
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , October 1903 , pp. 771 - 784
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1903

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References

page 775 note 1 I am indebted to Professor Bevan for the reference to the story in the Naḳā'id, which fixes the sense of Bisṭam's speech as reported in the Kāmil, as well as for other suggestions as to the interpretation of the passage.

page 776 note 1 Ṭabarī l.c. p. 987. I have ventured to quote my metrical rendering, which is sufficiently close.

page 777 note 1 See Sir H. Rawlinson in J.R.A.S., new ser. vol. xii, p. 222.

page 777 note 2 See Yāḳūt iv, p. 669.

page 778 note 1 It is noticeable that al-Ya'ḳūbī has also the fable of his 150 years, which is not therefore confined to Spain.

page 780 note 1 See Khizānah iv, 198.

page 780 note 2 The same suggestion had been made many years before by Emauuel Deuisch: see his Literary Remains, p. 74.

page 781 note 1 I do not overlook the usage by which this form is employed for going to a place—anjada, athama, aymana: he went to Najd, to Tihāmah, to al-Yaman. But this specialized use is different from that suggested in Professor Margoliouth's paper.

page 782 note 1 The only possible exception is in Sūrah xxvii, 31 and 38, But as Solomon was a prophet, and Bilḳīs and her people approached him as believers, it is simplest to take the word here also in the ordinary sense.

page 783 note 1 In the phrase aslama wajhahu, ‘face’ is to be understood as the equivalent of nafs, ‘self.’ Compare the verse in the Ḥamāsah, ed. , Freytag, p. 47Google Scholar—Innā lanurkhiṣu yauma-r-rau'i anfusanā, ‘we make ourselves cheap (i.e. risk our lives gladly) on the day of battle’—with the parallel passage quoted by the commentator: wa'ahdhulu fi-l-haijā'i wajhī, ‘and I give away my face freely in the fight.’ Similarly, in Æthiopic, rĕ'ĕs, ‘head,’ is often used for ‘self.’