Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un, to Allah we return.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un (إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ) means "indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return". It is called the istirja'. It reminds the one in grief that everything we have is on loan from Allah, and that we will all return to Him.

Where it comes from

Allah describes the patient as "those who, when disaster strikes them, say: Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return. Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy. And it is those who are the rightly guided" (Quran 2:156-157).

When to say it

• On hearing that someone has died, Muslim or not, as a reminder of our own return.
• At any loss or hardship: an illness, a lost job, a broken item, bad news.
• With the dua after it, from the hadith below.

The dua of Umm Salamah

Umm Salamah heard the Prophet ﷺ say: "No Muslim is struck by a calamity and says what Allah commanded, 'Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un, Allahumma'jurni fi musibati wa akhlif li khayran minha', except that Allah replaces it with something better." When her husband Abu Salamah died she said it, wondering who could be better than him, and Allah gave her the Prophet ﷺ himself as a husband (Sahih Muslim 918).

What to say to the family

When the Prophet's ﷺ grandson was dying, he sent his daughter this message: "To Allah belongs what He took and what He gave, and everything with Him has an appointed time, so be patient and hope for reward" (Sahih al-Bukhari 1284). You can also make dua for the one who died. See the dua for the deceased.

Spellings

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un, innalillahi wa inna ilaihi rajiun, inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon and innalillahiwainnailaihirojiun are the same words. Write it in full rather than "inna lillah" alone, so the meaning is complete.

1. Quran 2:156-157, translation by Sahih International.
2. Sahih Muslim 918.
3. Sahih al-Bukhari 1284; Sahih Muslim 923.