How to write a funeral announcement (نعوة)

What a funeral announcement contains, and in what order

A funeral announcement follows a fixed order. People read it quickly, on a phone, and they look for the same few facts in the same few places. Keep that order and nothing essential gets missed. Most of the text is fixed wording; only the names, the dates, the hours and the places change from one announcement to the next.

Write the name the way the family writes it, with the family name in full. If the person was known by another first name, put it on the same line rather than in a separate note. Then the date of death, then the service, then the condolences.

• The opening phrase, chosen according to the family's faith and custom.
• The full name of the deceased, as the family writes it, with the age or year of birth only if the family wants it there.
• The families who announce the death: the spouse, the children, the siblings, then the family names.
• The date of death.
• The funeral service: the day, the hour and the church, or the funeral prayer and the burial with the name of the mosque.
• The days and hours for condolences.
• The place where condolences are received: a church hall, the family home, the mosque, or a hall in the village.
• The closing phrase, and one line for donations if the family asks for them.

Christian and Muslim customs in Lebanon

Customs vary by family, by rite and by region, and a village may keep a practice the next village does not. What follows is the common pattern, not a rule.

In most Christian families in Lebanon, the announcement names a funeral service in a named church at a named hour, usually with the burial after it. Condolences are then received for about three days, in a church hall or at the family home, at hours written into the announcement, often in the afternoon and the evening.

In most Muslim families, the burial takes place soon after the death, so the announcement often reports it rather than invites to it: the funeral prayer at a named mosque at a named time, and the burial the same day or the next. The عزاء is then held on set days and hours, for men and for women, sometimes in two different places. Many families write both places and both sets of hours plainly, one line under the other.

If you are not sure which form a family uses, ask an older relative before you send anything. The wording is part of the respect.

How the deceased is referred to in Arabic

Arabic has settled forms for this, and they change with gender. المرحوم goes before a man's name, المرحومة before a woman's. For the verb: انتقل إلى رحمته تعالى for a man, انتقلت إلى رحمته تعالى for a woman.

A married woman is often named with her own family name and her husband's: المرحومة [name] زوجة [husband's name], or [name] [her family name] أرملة المرحوم [husband's name]. A widow is أرملة, a widower أرمل. Titles the person carried in life are kept: الدكتور، المهندس، الأستاذة، الحاج، الحاجة.

• المرحوم [الاسم] — for a man.
• المرحومة [الاسم] — for a woman.
• انتقل إلى رحمته تعالى — for a man.
• انتقلت إلى رحمته تعالى — for a woman.
• الفقيد / الفقيدة — used after the name to avoid repeating it.
• فقيدنا الغالي / فقيدتنا الغالية — used by close family; some families prefer plainer wording.

Opening and closing phrases

Christian announcements in Arabic often open with ببالغ الحزن والأسى تنعى عائلة… and close with a line of prayer for the soul of the deceased. Muslim announcements open with إنّا لله وإنّا إليه راجعون, the phrase a reader expects to see first.

In French and English, keep the same register and do not translate word for word. Short is better than ornate.

• إنّا لله وإنّا إليه راجعون — the usual Muslim opening.
• ببالغ الحزن والأسى تنعى عائلة… — a common Christian opening.
• تقبل التعازي يوم… في… من الساعة… حتى الساعة…
• « C’est avec une grande tristesse que la famille … annonce le décès de … » — the French opening.
• « La famille recevra les condoléances le … » — the French condolences line.
• “The family of … announces with deep sorrow the death of …” — the English opening.

Donations instead of flowers

Many families ask for a donation instead of wreaths. Write it as a request, in one line, at the end. Name the cause or institution if the family has chosen one; if it has not, leave the line general.

Do not put a figure. Do not put a bank account in the announcement itself if the family would rather keep that private; the phone number of one relative is enough, and people will ask. One sentence is enough, and people who want to give will find the way.

• Arabic: تتقبّل العائلة التبرّعات لـ[الجهة] بدلاً من أكاليل الزهور.
• French: « La famille souhaite que les fleurs soient remplacées par un don à … »
• English: “In place of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to …”

Who signs the announcement

The signature is read closely, and its order matters. It starts with the closest relatives and widens out.

Write the family names in the usual form: عائلة [name], or آل [name]. If the list of in-law families is long, close it with وعموم الأقارب rather than trying to name everyone and leaving someone out.

• The spouse, then the children with their husbands and wives, then the grandchildren if the family names them.
• The brothers and sisters, with their families.
• The families related by marriage, written as عائلة or آل.
• A closing line: وعموم الأقارب والأصدقاء.

What to leave out

An announcement is not a biography and not an invitation. Leave out anything that reads like either. If a sentence would need explaining, it does not belong in the announcement.

• The cause of death, unless the family has decided to state it.
• Photographs, if any relative is uneasy about them; and never more than one if you use one.
• Anything decorative: music, colour, a countdown, animation.
• Words such as invitation, event or attendance.
• A long account of the person's life; if you want a tribute, keep it to one sentence, or leave it for the church.
• The full home address, if the family would rather receive people only at the stated place and hours.

Sending it to everyone at once

Everything travels on WhatsApp, and the same announcement is forwarded dozens of times within an hour. One short link is easier than an image: the text stays readable on every phone, and the family can correct an hour or a place without sending a second message.

A Raybot announcement page for a death is plain on purpose: no RSVP, no countdown, no music, no celebration of any kind. It holds the text in Arabic, French and English on one page, the days and hours for condolences with their places, directions by Google Maps and Waze, and one optional line for donations.

• One short link, sent once, forwarded by everyone else.
• The text in Arabic, French and English on the same page.
• More than one place, each with its own hours: the church or mosque, then the place for condolences.
• Directions by Google Maps and Waze, which matters for a village cemetery or a hall that is hard to find.
• One optional donations line, and nothing else.

Replying to an announcement

When a نعوة reaches you on WhatsApp, a short reply is enough. Send it to one member of the family, privately, rather than into a group where it joins a hundred others. Do not ask how it happened, and do not ask anything the announcement already says.

If you can, go to the condolences at the hours the family gave, and keep the visit short. If you cannot, a call a few days later means more than a long message on the first night. The phrases below are the common ones; use the one that belongs to the family’s faith, or say you are sorry in your own words.

• Arabic: الله يرحمه / الله يرحمها — may God have mercy on him, on her.
• Arabic: البقيّة بحياتكم — said to the family, in every community.
• Arabic: عظّم الله أجركم — in Muslim families.
• French: « Sincères condoléances. Toutes nos pensées vous accompagnent. »
• English: “I am so sorry for your loss. Thinking of you and your family.”

Wordings a family can copy, in all three languages

Fill in the parts in brackets. Choose the opening and closing phrases that match your own faith and your family’s custom, and have an older relative read the text once before you send it. Most announcements in Lebanon go out in Arabic; the English and French versions are for the relatives who read those, on the same page or in the message that carries the link. For a woman, the Arabic changes with her: فقيدتها المرحومة, التي انتقلت.