Hanif

Hanif — one who inclines away from all falsehood toward pure monotheism — is the Quranic description of Ibrahim's theological orientation. He arrived at the worship of Allah alone through a process of honest intellectual reflection, rejecting the stars, the moon, and the sun as he tested each in turn, before declaring his face turned toward the Creator of everything. Ibn Kathir uses this to establish Ibrahim as the father of rational monotheism — not someone who inherited belief from his parents (his father was an idol-maker) but someone who reasoned his way to the truth. The Quran commands the Prophet ﷺ and the believers to follow 'the creed of Ibrahim the hanif,' making his intellectual journey the model of sincere monotheism.

As understood in the classical tradition of Ibn Kathir and the scholars of his school.