traces of such a frame of mind we notice frequently in ancient Arab poetry. On no other basis, indeed, can we explain away the lamentations of the royal poet Imra-ul-Qais over the worthlessness of the life of pleasure that he had led and the conversion to Christianity of Qais B. Zuhair, the leader of the Abs in the long fratricidal war against the Dhubian.[6] In considering the rise of Islam we cannot be unwatchful of the course of contemporary thought or unmindful of the religious forces which contributed to its success. Such, indeed, were the forces at work in Arabia before Mohamed; forces which could not have failed to stir higher thoughts in enlightened minds and to create a reaction against the Arab Heathenism. And a reaction, indeed, did set in. A band of distinguished men, whom we must recognise as the heralds and standard-bearers of Islam, no longer willing to tolerate idolatrous practices, definitely cut themselves adrift from the Arabian Paganism. They called themselves Hanifs; a word of doubtful meaning and the cause of much controversy. “The most acceptable conjecture seems to me”, says Sir Charles Lyall, “to be that of Sprenger that it is connected with the Hebrew HANEF heretic.” Hanifism had certain specific features: rejection of idolatory, abstention from certain kinds of food, and the worship of “the God of Abraham.” Ascetic practices, such as the wearing of sackcloth, are also ascribed to some of the Hanifs.[7] Islamic tradition has handed down to us the names of a number of religious thinkers before Mohamed, who are described as Hanifs and of whom the following is a list:-- 1. Warakah b. Naufal of Kuraish. 2. Ubaidulla b. Jahsh. 3. Uthman b. Al Huwarith. 4. Zaid b. ´Amr b. Naufal. Ibn Kutaibah adds to the above:-- 5. Urbab b. al Bara´ of Abdul Qais 6. Umayyah b. Abi-s-Salt. 7. Kuss b. Saidah of Iyad (Aghani XIV, 41-44) Mohamed heard him at Ukaidh but he died before the mission. 8. Abu Kais Simrah b. Abi Anas. 9. Khalid b. Sinan b. Ghaith of Abs. To these Sir Charles Lyall adds:-- 10. Abu Kais Saifi, Ibn Al-Aslat of the Aus-allah of Yathrib. It is impossible to misconceive the importance and significance of Hanifism in the origin of Islam. The path was already prepared for it and Islam offered to the Arabs what they were long in search for: a moral, ethical, and spiritual teaching; a higher form of worship and last but not least fraternity and union. The tribal cults were henceforward merged in a higher worship and the nobler energies of the Arab race obtained a religious consecration. Islam became the starting point for the Arabs for conquests, alike spiritual and temporal. With Islam became the prerogative of the Arab race to be “an ensign to the nations;” to bear and to carry the banner of the true God to the remotest corner of the earth. Hence the unceasing campaigns and hence the far-extending conquests. FOOTNOTES: [1] Wellhausen, _Reste Arabischen Heidentums_, p. 226.