Question # 603: Is it okay to say inna lillahi wa inallah-e-raji’oon on the death of a non-Muslim or on the death of a pet?

Assalamu ‘laikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

All praise and thanks are due to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم).

Dear questioner,

First of all, we implore Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) to help us serve His cause and render our work for His sake.

Shorter Answer: It is permissible to say “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiʿun” upon the death of a non-Muslim, because the phrase means that we belong to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) and will return to Him. It expresses the Muslim’s own grief and recognition of Allah’s (سبحانه و تعالى) ownership; it is not a prayer for the deceased. However, one may not ask Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) to forgive a person who died outside Islam. Likewise, if the death of a lawful animal or pet causes genuine personal loss or grief, it is permissible to say the phrase. Lastly, one should not recite verses describing the believing soul over a non-Muslim.

Long Answer: The texts from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) legislated the permissibility for a Muslim to say: “Indeed we belong to Allaah, and indeed to Him we will return.” (إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ) when a calamity befalls him in his own self, his family, or his money. Therefore, it is permissible to say this phrase when losing one’s job, one’s animal, one’s house, and so forth. Rather, it is desirable to say it when one is afflicted with a calamity.

Shaykh Abd al-Aziz ibn Baaz, the former Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, was asked directly whether it is correct to say “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un” over a disbeliever, and whether the Qur’anic address to “the reassured soul” in Soorah al-Fajr may also be used for such a person. He replied: If a disbeliever passes away, it is permissible for us to utter istirja’ even if the non-Muslim is not among our friends or family members. The reason is every human will return to Him, and every human belongs to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) (Fatawa Nur ‘ala al-Darb)  “As for prayer for them and supplicating for their sins to be forgiven, then it is haraam according to the Qur’an and ijma’” (al-Majmu’ Sharh al-Muhazzabb)… so long as the person died outside Islam.

This tracks the phrase’s own origin in the Qur’an, where it describes the response of the patient believer to calamity: “Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return” (Soorah al-Baqarah, 2:156). The declaration has two components. The first, inna lillahi, affirms that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) owns every person, believer and disbeliever alike. The second, wa inna ilayhi raji’un, affirms that every person’s affairs return to Him, which is likewise true of everyone regardless of belief. Neither half says anything about the deceased’s particular fate or asks Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) to do anything on the deceased’s behalf. The statement is about Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) and about the nature of all creation, not a prayer over the specific person who has died, and that is the basis on which Ibn Baaz’s ruling rests.

The same fatwa distinguishes istirja’ sharply from du’aa made on the deceased’s behalf. Ibn Baaz states that even though the phrase itself may be said, the disbeliever is not to be supplicated for, forgiveness is not sought for him, and charity is not given on his behalf, for as long as he died outside Islam. Please also refer to Answer # 450.

This tracks the Qur’an’s explicit ruling in the following verse, which states that neither the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) nor the believers may seek forgiveness for those who associate partners with Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), even close relatives, once it has become clear that they died as people of the Fire: “…to ask forgiveness for the polytheists…” (Soorah at-Tawbah, 9:113). Classical commentary connects this revelation to the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه و سلم) own wish to seek forgiveness for his uncle Abu Talib, who died upon disbelief, after which the verse established the prohibition for every believer thereafter.

The same principle touched the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) even more closely than that. Abu Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه) reported that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) visited the grave of his mother and he wept, and moved others around him to tears, and said: “I sought permission from my Lord to beg forgiveness for her, but it was not granted to me…” (Sahih Muslim). Aminah bint Wahb, the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه و سلم) mother, died before his prophethood. The hadith is a direct illustration, from the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه و سلم) own life, that even the deepest natural love for a parent who died outside Islam does not open the door to seeking forgiveness for her, while grief and remembrance of her remain entirely fitting; he wept at her grave, and it is that grief, not a plea for her forgiveness, that was permitted to him.

Ibn Baaz’s fatwa adds one further, specific point. The Qur’anic verse “O reassured soul, Return to your Lord, well pleased and pleasing [to Him]” (Soorah al-Fajr, 89:27–28), should not be recited over a disbeliever’s death, because the verse addresses the soul that attained tranquility through faith, and the Qur’an does not describe a soul that died in disbelief in those terms.

A separate fatwa added a helpful clarification about when istirja’ is called for in the first place: the phrase is prescribed for a museebah (calamity), and the fatwa specifically considers whether a non-Muslim’s death qualifies as one. It draws on Imam an-Nawawi’s commentary establishing, in the context of a different hadith, that istirja’ is desirable for any calamity affecting a person dear to oneself and not only for a calamity affecting oneself directly. It also draws on a report preserved by the Maliki jurist al-Hattab in his commentary Mawahib al-Jaleel, quoting the earlier jurist Ibn Rushd, that a Muslim’s loss of a non-Muslim father who had been kind to him in this life is a real and significant loss precisely because the two will not be together in the next life. On this basis, the fatwa concludes that saying istirja’ for such a loss is, Allah willing, permitted.

Taken together, these two fatwas cover both the general case, any non-Muslim’s death, and the specific case most readers are likely to actually face, a non-Muslim parent, sibling, or other relative who did not embrace Islam. Both are answered the same way: it is the Muslim’s own sense of loss being addressed, not a statement about where the deceased has gone.

One further piece of classical background is worth noting: Imam al-Qurtubi’s tafseer on Soorah al-Baqarah explains that the phrase’s two halves correspond to an acknowledgment of Allah’s (سبحانه و تعالى) ownership of every person and an acknowledgment that every affair returns to Him, a description of the phrase’s meaning itself rather than a ruling specific to non-Muslims.

As for Istirja’ on the death of pets, if a Muslim has farm animals such as goats, cows, chickens, and others, and one of the animals dies, then it is a form of calamity for him on his property. Thus, it is permissible for him to utter istirja’ because of this. This is according to a general hadith: Narrated Umm Salamah (رضي الله عنها): The Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said: When one of you is afflicted with a calamity, he should say: “We belong to Allah, and to Him we do return.” O Allah, I expect reward from Thee from this affliction, so give me reward for it, and give me a better compensation. (Sunan Abi Dawood, graded saheeh by Al-Albani)

As for prohibited animals to be reared or the death of an animal that does not affect him, for example, the death of another person’s pet or wild animals, then istirja’ is unnecessary. However, if the death of the animal serves as a reminder for him that every creation would return to its Creator. Then in this situation, it is permissible for him to utter istirja’, for it is a form of remembrance that is permissible according to shari’ah.

(The above reply is based on the following resources:

  • binbaz.org.sa
  • islamweb.net
  • muftiwp.gov.my (Jabatan Mufti Wilayah Persekutuan (Malaysia’s Federal Territories Islamic Affairs Department))

Allahu A’lam (Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) knows best) and all Perfections belong to Allah, and all mistakes belong to me alone. May Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) forgive me, Ameen.

Wassalaam