The Ahnaf
By Dr. Rafat Amari
Ahnaf is a
pagan Arabian religious group which began at the time of Mohammed. It had
nothing to do with the faith of Abraham.
Islamic tradition claims that at the time of Mohammed, there was a group of
people who refused to be either Jews or Christians, but instead, they claimed
to be of the “faith of Abraham,” which, according to Islam, would mean they
were the true followers of Abraham, and continued throughout
history. They called themselves “Ahnaf “ or “Honafa.“
This claim is blatantly false. Nowhere
in the pages of history was there a religion of Abraham called “ Hanifa”. Abraham was never
called “Hanifa” nor did Abraham ever call himself “Hanif,” nor did he establish
a religion. Faith in the God of the Bible did not begin with Abraham nor did it
begin in his lifetime. Before Abraham, the Bible presented men such as Enoch
and Noah with whom God spoke and fellowshipped.
But Abraham was called to leave
Abraham knew that the Savior would come from his offspring. This knowledge was
given to Abraham when God led Abraham to
The term " son of God" does not mean
that Christ was born to the Father, like and earthly son is born to a human
father. He is the Son of God because He is the object of God’s eternal love,
concern and glory. The Bible speaks of Christ in Colossians 1:13 as “the Son of
His love ”, in Hebrews1:2. He is the heir of all
things. He declared in John 16:15, “all the things that belong to the Father
are mine.” And again in John 1:3. “all
things were made by Him and without Him nothing was made that has been made.”
Abraham, as you may remember, placed Isaac on
the wood stacked high on the altar, and he prepared to kill him. God stopped
Abraham by providing a ram caught in the thicket. Isaac could never be the
redeemer for mankind himself because he was born in sin like all human
beings. God was showing him that the redeemer must come from heaven. The
ram Abraham saw symbolized Jesus, the Lamb of
God who carried away the sins of the world.
Abraham
was never given a law to be considered as a founder of a religion. The Law in the Old Testament was given to Moses. He never
was inspired to write a book, like many other prophets of the Old Testament. To
assert that Abraham founded a religion is inconceivable. One can’t single out
one event in the Bible and make a “religion” from it. All the revelations of
the Old and New Testaments are the providence’s of the same true God. The
revelations of the Old Testament pointed to the coming of Christ, His death and
resurrection from the dead, in order to bring man to fellowship with God.
Yet, Mohammed in the Qu’ran speaks about the religion
of Abraham as Hanif. And calls Muslims to be neither
Jews nor Christians but to be Hanifas as we read in Surah Al Baqarah 2:135. This
verse contradicts the truth which all the prophets announced. It opposes the
main subject around which their prophecies revolve, which is that Christ is the
Eternal Son of God, and took on a human form,
died on the Cross and was resurrected from the dead.
Islamic claims about Honafa’ or Ahnaf
There are no mention of Ahnaf in the Jahilieh period before Islam. This fact is
recognizable by Islamic scholars themselves. Jawad
Ali, an Iraqi Islamic scholar, says, “There is nothing about Ahnaf in Arabian sources before Islam. most
the information that Islamic authors provide is obscure and a fabrication. ”[i]
Jawad Ali goes on to say, “We have no mention of Ahnaf in the Jahilieh nor in the classical writings of the Greeks and Romans.
Therefore, our knowledge about them was only through Islamic literature.”[ii]
Here we see clearly that the idea of a religion in
The Ahnaf,
negative in behavior and conduct
However , Mohammed did have a connection with a
group of people the Islamic tradition calls “Ahnaf.”
The first biography of the
life of Mohammed was written during the 8th century A.D. by Ibn
Ishack and edited by Ibn Hisham. In it we read that the Honafa’
was a small group "started when four persons at
The four founders of Ahnaf were all related to
Mohammed. They were descendants of Loui, one of Mohammed ancestors. Furthermore, Waraqa bin Nofel and Othman Ben
Al-Huwereth were cousins of Khadijah.
We know this from Mohammed’s genealogy presented by Ibn
Hisham.[iv] Khadijah was the first wife of Mohammed. She played a major role
in convincing Mohammed that he was a prophet, using Waraqa
to achieve her goal.
Obeid Allah Ben Jahish was a maternal cousin to
Mohammed. Mohammed married his widow, Um Habibeh. All
this reveals the close connection between Mohammed and the founders of the group .
This group was unknown outside
We know many people joined them. They belonged to different religions, and thus
had various doctrines. Each religion contained
forms of polytheism, paganism and occultism. This makes them the most unlikely
group in history to claim they espoused the faith that Abraham and other
prophets in the Old Testament professed and preached. It’s ridiculous that
Muslims would believe that this pagan group represented the true and devout
faith.
The myths which they believed and incorporated into their poetry were also
written into the Qu’ran because Mohammed belonged to
the group from the time he was a youth. He boasted that he believed in their
creed and he was known to have connections with many members of this group. He
was influenced by their teachings, as well as by the
immoral concepts which I’ll discuss later. All this reflects the
group’s deep affiliation with the pagan mythological sects of the
It was not known if this group called themselves Honafa’ or Ahnaf, or they were
called this by the society as such. Especially if we know that the terminology
had a negative meaning and reflected negative behavior. The word hanif means “Astrictive, confined, awry, biased and errant.”
The Arabic word comes from the verb hanafa which
means to become Astrictive.[v] Although the Qu’ran
would convey a positive meaning to the term hanif
today, it was not so at the time of Mohammed.
Jawad Ali, the Iraqi scholar I referred to earlier,
says, “The Hanaf is straying from the right way.” Jawad Ali quotes many old Islamic authors who maintained
this was the meaning of hanif at the time of Mohammed[vi].
According to Jawad Ali, the
word also is derived from an Aramaic word that means "atheist, guileful,
hypocrite, infidel or perverted."[vii]
No matter how you look at it, the term hanif was a
negative one at the time of Mohammed as we see it in the Arabic and Aramaic languages. This suggests that group
members did not call themselves by that name, but they were given that name by
the people of
The immoral reputation of Ahnaf and its impact on
Mohammed
Their immoral behavior is seen in their poems, such as the poem composed by Waraqa Ben Nofel, one of the four
founders of the group. He boasted of his own experience raping a girl in her
home and enjoying sex with her. In his poem he encourages others to enjoy
experiences like this[viii].
Waraqa's immoral ideas left a special impact
on Mohammed who learned under him. Waraqa was a
cousin of Mohammed’s first wife, Khadejeh. She used Waraqa to convince Mohammed that he was a prophet. This was
after Mohammed had negative experiences with a spirit who choked him three
times in order to subjugate him to an oracle he wanted to use Mohammed to
spread. Mohammed returned from his cave to his wife shaking, quavering and
trembling. He alluded to having been possessed by a devil, and invaded by a
spirit of Kahhaneh. This divination was used by the
devils of
Without doubt, the example of Waraqa, as we saw
through his poem, left a special impact on Mohammed's behavior
. During his campaigns he waged against the non-Muslim tribes and cities
in
Later Burrah wanted to get advice from Mohammed. When
Aisheh, the youngest wife of Mohammed, saw the girl
was very beautiful, she hated to see that Burrah was
meeting with Mohammed, because she knew Mohammed would take her from her
husband Thabit and keep her for himself. This was a
something Mohammed had done before with the most beautiful women captured in
the campaigns, even though some of his followers may have had the woman before
Mohammed. The prediction of Aisheh came true.
Mohammed called Thabit and asked him to give him the
girl. Thabit said, “She is for you, Oh prophet of
Allah,” and Mohammed took the girl and changed her name into Jwerieh.[ix]
Thabit turned her over to Mohammed with those words,
because Mohammed granted rights to himself to have any female even those who
were married to his followers. No one could oppose Mohammed in any thing. He
married Aisheh when she was only six years old and
Mohammed was 54. Abu Baker, the father of Aisheh,
dared not oppose Mohammed’s desire to take Abu Baker's child[x].
Many soldiers followed Mohammed in
his campaigns for the express purpose of capturing concubines, and enjoying
free sex with the females of conquered tribes and cities. When he recruited
followers for his army, Mohammed used slogans that promised sex with the women
of the tribe or city he invaded. He told people, “follow me and you can enjoy
sex with the daughters and wives of the tribe or city.” For example, when
he wanted to attack the Byzantine district of South Jordan, Mohammed said, “follow me and I will let you enjoy the
daughters of the blonde.”[xi]
Um Salmeh, a wife of Mohammed, said, “Mohammed came
to me while a eunuch was in my house. I heard Mohammed say to Abed Allah Bin Ummieh who came with him, “Oh Abed, if Allah gives us
victory tomorrow over the city of
His slogans struck a responsive chord among many who were looking for sexual
experiences, and an easy way to obtain many concubines. It was said that a man
named Al Maghirah Bin Shaabah
captured one thousand concubines by following Mohammed in his campaigns[xiii].
We find the literature of Ahnaf, filled with
descriptions of paradise, full of women and free sexual experiences. This
attracted Arabians who were deprived of spiritual knowledge. They were not
interested in finding true spirituality and morality that comes from a
relationship with the true God as presented in the New Testament.
There were many Gnostic sects around
Mohammed used to sit with Fariah, the sister of Ummieh, because he was fond of her beauty. She recited the
poems of her brother Ummeih to Mohammed. That’s why
in the Qu’ran we find many of the myths and poems
that Ummieh composed. Among the things Mohammed
borrowed from Ummieh was his description of the women of the paradise. Ummieh
also wrote about the rivers of honey and
wine in paradise. The women never see the sun. They sleep on beds opposite each
other, and were at the disposal of the one who enters paradise[xiv].
These thoughts are still reflected today in Islam among suicide bombers who are
promised young virgins if the die in battle.
We find all these thoughts when we read the Qu’ran,
which reveals the thoughts of Mohammed about paradise were
what Ummieh and the Ahnaf
promoted to attract immoral people to their group.
Without the truth of the Bible which tells us about eternal spiritual joy and
happiness which the Christian experiences in heaven, Ahnaf
made sex as main and eternal goal and end for their religion
. This was reflected clearly in the Qur’an.
The Ahnaf easily fell into sin. In heaven, rather
than reveling in sexual gratification, true believers in God find happiness in
the glorified spiritual nature which they enjoy
The idea of the sex was portrayed in the Ahnaf’s
paradise. The
adherents were promised free sexual experiences on heaven , the thing that made free sex experiences to be
their main goal and the highest achievement of their
lives in earth. In the suburbs of Medina was a place where Khazrej
and Oas, along with the followers of Mohammed who
emigrated with him from Mecca, practiced sex with the females they captured as
soon as they arrived the city after some of their campaigns. The place
was called “Thaniyat Al Waddaa ËäíÇÊ ÇáæÏÇÚ .” We understand from the book of Halabieh,
one of Mohammed’s biographers, that Muslims enjoyed sex in Thaniyat
Al Waddaa' with the females of the city of
Khazrej and Oas, the two Arabian tribes of
Mohammed’s behavior in
He encouraged Muslim women to offer themselves to him according to the 50th and
51st verses in Surah
33, called Al Ahzab, “Oh prophet, we made it lawful
to you to take the wives for which you have paid their dowry. What your hand
possesses from the prisoners of war that Allah gave you, and the daughters of
your uncles and the daughters of your aunts, and the daughters of your maternal
uncles and aunts, those who migrated with you, and any believing woman that
gives herself to the prophet, if he wants to wed her, he may. These privileges
are only for you and not for the believers at large. We know what we have
appointed for them as to their wives and the females whom they captured in the
wars. We established this so no embarrassment would come
you. You have the prerogative to turn of any one you want
and to lodge with any woman you want, and if you desire any woman you
sent away, it’s not sin for you.”
This statement about taking back someone previously sent away came from the
Zoroastrian law which Mohammed adapted for the Qu’ran.
It said a Muslim could divorce his wife for any reason, but he couldn’t return
to her unless she first slept with another man for a period of time. So in Surah 33, Mohammed gave himself exceptional privileges. He could have a relationship with any woman he sent away
without the conditions he put on his followers. These verses intimate there is
no law that limits
Mohammed from having any woman he desires.
Aisheh said, “I was jealous when the women offered
themselves to the prophet of Allah, and I used
to say, ‘Can a woman offer herself?, when a verse of the Qur’an came that
says, ‘You have the prerogative to turn of anyone you want, and to have
to lodge with you any woman you want, and if you want any woman who
in the past you have sent away, you have not sinned.’ I said to Mohammed, ‘what I see is what your god
anticipated– quickly satisfying your fleshly desires.’”[xvii]
Mohammed extended sexual pleasure to those in his armies. Jaber
Bin Abed Allah and Salmeh Bin Al Akwah said, "We were with the army when Mohammed came
and said to us, ‘it is allowable to you to enjoy sex so enjoy it’.”[xviii]
If free sex in paradise is the ultimate goal Mohammed promised to his adherents
as their enjoyment of eternity,
free sex on earth carries the same message. It's the essence of what is considered
in their religion as the highest goal they were promised they would experience
in eternity . Therefore, it became something
that they should seek to achieve on earth.
This is a trick of the devil, the enemy of the soul. He replaced the
holiness of heaven with the immorality of the Ahnaf's
paradise. He replaced the holiness that Christ offers through His Spirit to
those who believe in Him, with a search of profligacy, licentiousness,
libertinism and immorality.
Next edition, I will continue on the subject.
Religion Research Institute -Home
[i] Jawad Ali,
Al Mufassal Fi Tariq al Arab Khabl al Islam, part vi, page 455
[ii] Jawad Ali,
Al Mufassal Fi Tariq al Arab Khabl al Islam, part vi, page 450
[iii] Ibn Hisham, I, page 242
[iv] Ibn Hisham, I, page 63
[v] Al-Munjed ,Arabic dictionary,
page 158
[vi] Jawad Ali, Al Mufassal Fi Tariq al
Arab Khabl al Islam, part vi, page 451
[vii] Jawad Ali, Al Mufassal Fi Tariq al
Arab Khabl al Islam, part vi, page 454
[viii] Al Asfahani, Al-Agani
3, page 118
[ix] Halabieh, II,
pages 586 and 587
[x] Sahih Muslim,
9, pages 206-208;Bukhari, 6, page 134
[xi] Asbab al Nuzul, page 142
[xii]Bukhari, 5, page 102
[xiii] Halabieh, II,
page 699
[xiv] Diwan Ummieh bin Abi al Salt, 49-53
cited by Jawad Ali, Al Mufassal
Fi Tariq al Arab Khabl al Islam, part vi, page 489
[xv] Halabieh, II,
page 235
[xvi]Bukhari, 7, page 90
[xvii]Bukhari, 6, page 24; Sahih Muslim 10, page 48
[xviii]Bukhari, 6, page 129