The Virtue of Istirja` – An Explanation

Ḥadīth

On the authority of Umm Salama (رضى الله عنها) who reported Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: “If any Muslim who suffers some calamity says what Allah has commanded him,

إِنَّا لِله وإنَّا إلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ، اللَّهُمَّ أجُرْنِي فِي مُصِيْبَتي، وأخْلِفْ لِي خَيْراً مِنْهَا

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un. Allahumma-jurni fi musibati, wa akhlif li khairan minha.

We belong to Allah and to Him shall we return; O Allah, reward me for my affliction and give me something better than it in exchange for it.

…Allah ﷻ will give him something better than it in exchange. When Abu Salama died, she said: What Muslim is better than Abu Salama, whose family was the first to emigrate to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)? I then said the words, and Allah gave me God’s Messenger (ﷺ) in exchange. She said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent Hatib b. Abu Balta’a to deliver me the message of marriage with him. I said to him: I have a daughter (as my dependent) and I am of jealous temperament. He (the Prophet) said: “So far as her daughter is concerned, we would supplicate Allah, that He may free her (of her responsibility), and I would also supplicate Allah to do away with (her) jealous (temperament).” [Sahih Muslim 918]

Text of the Ḥadīth

Al-Muttalib reported that Umm Salamah narrated: On an occasion Abu Salamah came back after he was with Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) and said, “I heard Allah’s Messenger recite a statement that made me delighted.”

He (ﷺ) said, “No Muslim is struck with an affliction and then says istirja’ (saying: “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiʿun” [from Allah we come and to Him we will return]), when the affliction strikes, and then he says, ‘O Allah! reward me for my loss and give me what is better than it’, except that Allah will do that for him.”

Umm Salamah said: So I memorized these words. When Abū Salamah died, I said istirja’ and said: “O Allah, compensate me for my loss and give me what is better than it.”

I then thought about it and said, “Who is better than Abu Salamah?”

When my ʿiddah finished, Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) asked for permission to see me while I was dyeing a skin that I had. I washed my hands, gave him permission to enter and handed him a pillow, and he sat on it. He then asked me for marriage and when he finished his speech,

I said, “O Messenger of Allah! It is not that I do not want you, but I am very jealous, and I fear that you might experience some wrong mannerism from me, for which Allāh would punish me. And I am old and have ʿiyāl (children).”

He (ﷺ) then said, “As for the jealousy that you mentioned, Allāh the Exalted will remove it from you. As for being old as you mentioned, I have suffered what you have suffered. And as for what you mentioned of having children, then verily your children are my children.”

She said, “I have submitted to Allāh’s Messenger.”

Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) married her.

And Umm Salamah said later, “Allah compensated me for Abu Salamah with someone better than him: the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).”

[Recorded by Imam Ahmad in al-Musnad (16344; 26/262 — this wording), and also by Muslim (918), Abu Dawud (3119), at-Tirmidhi (3511), and others.]

In another narration recorded in the Sunan:
Umm Salama reported Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: “Whenever you visit the sick or the dead, supplicate for good because angels say “Amen” to whatever you say. She added: When Abu Salamah died, I went to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said: Messenger of Allah, Abu Salamah has died. He told me to recite:

اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَلَهُ وَأَعْقِبْنِي مِنْهُ عُقْبَى حَسَنَةً

Allahummaghfir li wa lahu, wa a’qibni minhu ‘uqba hasanah

O Allah, forgive me and him, and compensate me with someone better than him.

So I said (this), and Allah gave me in exchange Muhammad, who is better for me than him (Abu Salamah).”

[Recorded by Muslim (919), Ibn Majah (1447), at-Tirmidhi (977), Abu Dawud (3115), and an-Nasa’i (1825).]

Terminologies

Ajurnee: Reward me for my patience during this affliction.

Wa akhliflee: Compensate me for my loss.

Shaykh Ibn al-‘Uthaymeen (رحمه الله) said: “Do not say “wa-ukhliflee” (وَاُخْلِفْ لِي), but say “wa-akhliflee” (وَأَخْلِفْ لِي), meaning provide for me a better replacement for it.” [Sharh Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn (3/401)]

Khairan minhaa: In that affliction or calamity, and this can be any type of affliction, whether it is related to a loss in one’s health or wealth.

Explanation

Ibn al–Qayyim (رحمه الله) said:

This wording is one of the most effective remedies during afflictions and calamities, and the most beneficial for the person in his worldly life and the Hereafter. This Du’a comprises two great fundamental issues, which if a slave realizes (and understands), would find solace during affliction.

First: It is the realization that the slave, his family, and his wealth are, in reality, the property of Allah. He (تعالى) has loaned them to His slave. So, (when the slave takes it, it is like the borrower taking a loan from the lender) and when He (سبحانه وتعالى) takes it back from the slave, it is like the lender is taking back his property from the borrower. Also, the slave is surrounded by two non-existences, he had nothing before (his birth) and he will not own anything (from this world) after (his death except for his deeds). And what a person owns (in this world) has been given to him as a loan for a short period of time. Moreover, it is not the person who brought this into existence from non-existence, so that he could claim real ownership over it, nor is he able to protect it from calamities after its existence, nor can he keep it existing (forever). He has no control over it nor is it his property in reality! Furthermore, he spends it like a servant who has been instructed on how to spend it (i.e., like a person who has been given limited choice) and not like the owner. That is why it is not his right to spend, except as how the Real Owner agrees to it.

Second: The return and the final destination of the slave is towards Allah – their true Lord. The slave will surely leave this world behind, and all of them will come to Him alone (on the Day of Resurrection), like the way they were created the first time, (i.e., before his birth) he had no wealth, family (wife and children), etc. All that will remain with him are his good deeds and bad deeds. So, if this is how the beginning of a person is, his living, and his ending, then why should he be so happy when something is given to him, or disheartened and grieved if something is taken from him? So, if he were to ponder about his beginning, and his eventual return (to Allah), then this is a great remedy for this sickness (distress, anxiety, grief, etc.). And another remedy for this sickness is to have Yaqeen (Certainty) that what has afflicted him was not going to pass him by, and what he has failed to attain was not going to befall him.

As Allah (تعالى) said:

مَآ اَصَابَ مِنْ مُّصِيْبَةٍ فِى الْاَرْضِ وَلَا فِيْٓ اَنْفُسِكُمْ اِلَّا فِيْ كِتٰبٍ مِّنْ قَبْلِ اَنْ نَّبْرَاَهَا ۗاِنَّ ذٰلِكَ عَلَى اللّٰهِ يَسِيْرٌ، لِّكَيْلَا تَأْسَوْا عَلٰى مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا تَفْرَحُوْا بِمَآ اٰتٰىكُمْ ۗوَاللّٰهُ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُوْرٍ

“No calamity befalls on the earth or in yourselves but is inscribed in the Book of Decrees (Al-Lauh Al-Mahfoodh) before We bring it into existence. Verily, that is easy for Allah. So that you may not be sad over matters that you fail to get, nor rejoice because of that which has been given to you. And Allah likes not prideful boasters.” [Surah al-Hadīd (57): 22–23] [Zād al-Ma‘ād (4/173–174)]

End quote.

[Excerpt taken from the eBook Explanation of the Supplications for Anxiety and Sorrow by Fahad Nawab Muhammad Barmem. The book was compiled from the works of Shaykh Ibn al-‘Uthaymeen (رحمه الله), Ibn al-Qayyim (رحمه الله), and several Arabic websites, such as Dorar, Kalem Tayeb, and others.]

May Allah ﷻ grant us ease.

Aameen!