إِنَّ إِلَينا إِيابَهُم

Indeed to Us will be their return.

EXEGESIS

Iyāb (return) is from the root āba, which means to return to the place of origin, just like the ebb and flow of waves in the ocean that flow out on to the seashores and then return and flow back to wherefrom they came forth. Iyāb, therefore, has the same connotation as the root r‑j-ʿ.

The sentence’s composition implies immense emphasis as it begins with the particle inna which emphasises what follows it, and thereafter uses a nominal sentence with a postpositive subject which is another literary device for emphasis. Hence, it means: Surely and without a shred of doubt, their return will be to Us.

EXPOSITION

Indeed to Us will be their return means by way of physical death and resurrection. It emphasises that in the end they will not go anywhere else or return to anyone but Me. They may run but they cannot hide or escape Us.^{‎[1]Alusi, 15/331; Safi, 5/322.} Return is usually used because all things in existence originate from God and then ultimately return to Him. This return is of course not merely physical because God is neither corporeal nor limited to any spatio-temporal dimension. He is already closer to man than his jugular vein (50:16, 56:85) and He is with you wherever you may be (57:4). So the return that the Quran often speaks of is man’s journey. Man forgets his origin and denies Him, attributing all things in his life to secondary causes and effects. Upon death, he is stripped of his false and illusory sense of self and realises there is no reality but God. He thus ‘meets’ his maker and in that sense ‘returns’ to his pre-egoic state. This encounter with the divine (liqāʾ allāh) can be positive or negative and is experienced by both the righteous (2:46, 18:110, 29:5) and the wicked (7:51, 10:7, 10:45, 32:14).

Ibn Kathīr and Suyūṭī rightly describe their return (iyābahum) as marjiʿuhum (their returning back) and munqalabuhum (retracing their steps back).^{‎[2]Ibn Kathir, 8/380; Suyuti, 6/344.} All these terms, including iyābahum, suggest humankind does not arrive on the Day of Judgement but returns to where it originated (21:104), except with greater spiritual realisation and maturity. In other words, though God is with the creation even now, as He always was and will be, most of this creation is ‘absent’ from Him, in an unconscious and heedless state. Their journeying back to God upon death, the Judgement Day, and beyond, is one that is spiritual in which higher awareness and clarity of Reality is gained and one ‘returns’ to God by seeing His presence in all matters (beyond the apparent causes and effects) minus this world’s limited material form and realm. See also the discussion on liqāʾ allāh under 2:46.

For the use of the plural Us for God in this verse, see the Exposition under 2:3. Ibn Arabi sees the addition of to Us as an emphasis, to mean: ‘Exclusively to Us and none other besides Us.’^{‎[3]Ibn Arabi, 2/428.} And, in connecting to the preceding verses and consoling the Prophet, it is to say: ‘If they turn away from you, leave them in their arrogance O Muhammad, for it is We who shall overwhelm and prevail over the wicked, punishing them with the greatest punishment (al-ʿadhāb al-akbar) (88:24).’^{‎[4]Razi, 31/147.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.^{‎[5]Psalms 65:2.}
2. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.^{‎[6]Ecclesiastes 12:7.}

[1] Alusi, 15/331; Safi, 5/322.
[2] Ibn Kathir, 8/380; Suyuti, 6/344.
[3] Ibn Arabi, 2/428.
[4] Razi, 31/147.
[5] Psalms 65:2.
[6] Ecclesiastes 12:7.