Bismillah.
الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
Those who, when an affliction visits them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him do we return.’
(Sūrat al-Baqarah No. 2, Āyat 156)
This verse appears within a cluster of five verses (Q 2:153–157) that prepared the early Muslim community for the trials of war and hardship they will soon face. These verses describe the reaction of the ṣābirūn, those who respond to tribulation with patience. When calamity strikes, they utter the words: Innā lillāhi wa innā ilayhi rāji’ūn—a phrase known in Islamic literature as the words of istirjā’.
Imam Muhammad al-Bāqir ‘alayhis-salām is reported to have said: No servant is afflicted with a calamity and then says istirjā’ when remembering it and remains patient when it strikes, except that Allah forgives all his past sins. In Tafsīr al-Mīzān, ‘Allāmah Tabātabā’ī reflects on the significance of this verse before engaging in a philosophical discussion on divine ownership. He writes:
Clearly what is meant by saying this phrase is not merely uttering the words without awareness of their meaning, nor simply recalling them without truly realizing their reality, namely, that the human being is entirely owned by God in the truest sense of ownership, and that his ultimate return is to God. With this realization, the most profound form of patience is achieved, the kind that severs the roots of panic and sorrow and cleanses the heart of heedlessness.
This verse was also invoked by Imam al-Husayn ‘alayhis-salām at a critical moment. When Mu‘āwiyah b. Abū Sufyān died and the demand for allegiance to Yazīd was presented, Marwān ibn al-Hakam urged the Imam to comply for the sake of his worldly and religious well-being. Imam al-Husayn (a) responded by saying: Indeed, we belong to Allah, and to Him do we return. Farewell to Islam if the nation is afflicted with a ruler like Yazīd. And I heard my grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (s) say, ‘The caliphate is forbidden to the family of Abū Sufyān.’
By invoking the words of istirjā’, Imam al-Husayn (a) may have intended to convey these messages:
1. The demand to pledge allegiance to Yazīd was itself a calamity, not just a personal trial, but a catastrophe for Islam as a whole. Yazīd’s leadership represented the erasure of the Prophet’s legacy and the collapse of justice and truth in governance. The Imam’s phrase “farewell to Islam” expresses the gravity of this danger.
2. The Imam was signaling the beginning of the prophesied trials. By saying istirjā’, he was acknowledging that the foretold tribulations spoken of by the Prophet and Imam Ali ‘alayhimas-salām had now begun. His response demonstrated submission to the divine will, with unwavering patience in the face of what was to come.
As we commemorate these sacred days and nights, we ask Allah to grant us the ability to remember and mourn Imam al-Husayn (a) and other martyrs of Karbala, to draw closer to them, and to seek their intercession in addressing the challenges of our lives.
Resources: ‘Allāmah Tabātabā’ī, Tafsīr al-Mīzān; Āyatullāh Sa’ādat Parvar, Fūrugh-e Shahādat.