آيبون تائبون لربنا حامدون
Āyibūn, tāʾibūn, li-rabbinā ḥāmidūn
Topic
“We return, repenting, praising our Lord”: said by a traveller on returning home.
What it means
The phrase is spoken by those who come back from a journey. Āyibūn means “returning”, tāʾibūn “repenting” and ḥāmidūn “praising”. The returning traveller thus gives thanks that he has arrived safely and repents of any fault committed on the way. Faruqi says it is said by the returnee upon his return. The words are part of a longer prayer reported from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) on returning from a journey, in the collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim. The usual report also includes the word ʿābidūn, “worshipping”, which is absent from the form in Faruqi’s list. The phrase turns an ordinary homecoming into an act of gratitude.
Often misunderstood as
That travel prayers are only for the departure, when the return also has its own words of thanks.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 62, listed as ĀYIBŪN, TĀ’IBŪN, LI RABBINĀ ḤĀMIDŪN.. The definition is restated here.