Those Who Held On

Not everyone in Makkah accepted the idols. A handful of seekers, called hunafa' (those inclining to pure monotheism), refused to bow to stone and searched for the religion of Ibrahim. The Qur'an describes Ibrahim himself as hanif: ﴿مَا كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ يَهُودِيًّا وَلَا نَصْرَانِيًّا وَلَٰكِن كَانَ حَنِيفًا مُّسْلِمًا﴾ (“Ibrahim was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but was a hanif, devoted to Allah alone”) (3:67).

The best known was Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl. Asma' bint Abi Bakr remembered seeing him leaning against the Ka'bah and calling out, "People of Quraysh, by Allah, not one of you follows the religion of Ibrahim except me." When a man meant to kill his newborn daughter, Zayd would say, "Don't kill her; I will provide for her," and raise the girl himself (Sahih al-Bukhari 3828).

Zayd travelled as far as Syria questioning Jewish and Christian scholars, and returned still holding to Ibrahim's way, raising his hands and declaring that he was on his religion (Sahih al-Bukhari 3827). He died a few years before the first revelation, still searching — a sign that hearts in Makkah were already thirsty for what was coming.