Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is it offensive to say inshallah?

396 replies

Loulou599 · 08/10/2023 12:35

I think it's a really beautiful sound and is more wistful than saying touch wood or god willing, but would it be offensive (if you're not muslim)?

OP posts:
Mvslimah · 08/10/2023 17:13

Normalsizedsalad · 08/10/2023 17:08

I am non believer (we had jokes with DH about it hence the infidel).
It's a basic conversational arabic even for people speaking arabic who are not muslims.

Absolutely for Arabic speakers because it’s the language but when it’s not the language or faith then it’s weird especially as Muslim or Arab culture is much maligned in the west. So in your case your husband is arab is part of his everyday parlance but for a random white person who’s heard it and thinks it sounds cool and exotic, it’s weird

Normalsizedsalad · 08/10/2023 17:08

I am non believer (we had jokes with DH about it hence the infidel).
It's a basic conversational arabic even for people speaking arabic who are not muslims.

Mvslimah · 08/10/2023 17:05

Normalsizedsalad · 08/10/2023 17:00

No. You can use it as non muslim. Non muslims arabs use it as well.
I am 5* infidel and use these. But I am married to muslim and have many arab and muslim friends and obviously family members. Many non muslims in our circles learned few of these words and use them when we are all together.

What’s a 5* infidel?

i don’t understand why you would appeal to Allah if you don’t believe in him (Jews and Christians aren’t (disbelievers)

i feel like infidel is quite a weaponised term

BBno4 · 08/10/2023 17:03

No, I don't want it to be said in the same way people say, Jesus Christ! Without any care to what they are actually saying.

They are saying if Allah wills and they don't even believe.

Dont appropriate.

Normalsizedsalad · 08/10/2023 17:00

BBno4 · 08/10/2023 16:56

Only say it if your Muslim

No. You can use it as non muslim. Non muslims arabs use it as well.
I am 5* infidel and use these. But I am married to muslim and have many arab and muslim friends and obviously family members. Many non muslims in our circles learned few of these words and use them when we are all together.

Mvslimah · 08/10/2023 17:00

Pinkchairs · 08/10/2023 16:55

Yeah I fucking do.

I know it means if god wills it. But it’s used like mañana mañana a lot.

And the others what do they mean?

and if you know what it means why not write it correctly?

you said it’s basically mañana but it’s not, it may be used in the common vernacular like that occasionally but it’s not. It’s used for any plan in the future (or should be) because we do not know what tomorrow holds only Allah (swt) does so we say what our plans are and then acknowledge that it is only if Allah wills it so. That’s actually the purpose of the term.

StoatofDisarray · 08/10/2023 17:00

Given the context you provided, it would make you sound like a bit of a poser.

BBno4 · 08/10/2023 16:56

Only say it if your Muslim

Pinkchairs · 08/10/2023 16:55

Mvslimah · 08/10/2023 16:52

No it’s fucking not!

it means if Allah wills it

and you’re not even writing them correctly! You’re literally changing the meaning!

its in sha Allah same with all the others.

do you even know what they mean? Ffs. Bastardise your own culture and religion

Edited

Yeah I fucking do.

I know it means if god wills it. But it’s used like mañana mañana a lot.

Mvslimah · 08/10/2023 16:52

Pinkchairs · 08/10/2023 16:49

My of my non related immediate family members is Arab. I’ve picked up various sayings.

I love Haywan rude word meaning animal. Mashallah, inshallah, Astaghfirullah. And habibi, hayati. Yarabbi.

fucking love them.

inshallah is basically mañana mañana.

No it’s fucking not!

it means if Allah wills it

and you’re not even writing them correctly! You’re literally changing the meaning!

its in sha Allah same with all the others.

do you even know what they mean? Ffs. Bastardise your own culture and religion

Normalsizedsalad · 08/10/2023 16:51

These two are hilarious on instagram if anyone wants a giggle sometimes. Topical post

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CfoBKfIJYiT/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CfoBKfIJYiT?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

Pinkchairs · 08/10/2023 16:49

My of my non related immediate family members is Arab. I’ve picked up various sayings.

I love Haywan rude word meaning animal. Mashallah, inshallah, Astaghfirullah. And habibi, hayati. Yarabbi.

fucking love them.

inshallah is basically mañana mañana.

Normalsizedsalad · 08/10/2023 16:45

Husbands saying it is not comforting 😂

(lighthearted before anyone starts)

TooBigForMyBoots · 08/10/2023 16:44

My ExH recently returned from the ME after 10 years. He says it all the time and he's an atheist.

It is a beautiful, comforting word @Loulou599.Smile

Mvslimah · 08/10/2023 16:42

laclochette · 08/10/2023 16:25

I use it a lot (non Muslim) cos it's just so useful, as well as being such a pleasing word in how it sounds. Can't think of an English word or phrase that does the trick in the same way. It can be used in quite a tongue in cheek way or entirely seriously, just as it is in Arabic. Lots of my friends know and use it too - perhaps living in a very multicultural city there's just more cross-pollination of this sort. None of my Muslim friends have said when I asked that they found it appropriating or offensive, although no one person can speak for everyone of a given group of course. But yeah I love it, a great addition to the vocabulary.

I’d find it really annoying! Can’t lie- it is appropriation esp as most things ‘Muslim’ are much maligned in the west

i also find it super annoying because y’all can’t even get the other words you do know like halal right and now you wanna have more

Nevermind31 · 08/10/2023 16:32

MankyMinge · 08/10/2023 15:29

But what if the OP isn't German or French? Then she is guilty of appropriating. See what I mean??

Well yes, that is my point. If it would sound odd using any other language, then Arabic will sound odd too…

Millybob · 08/10/2023 16:31

According to Tolkien: 'Most English-speaking people will admit that cellar-door is 'beautiful' especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, 'sky' and far more beautiful than 'beautiful.' ...

Perhaps that would work for you as an inshallah alternative? Quite as mellifluous - no danger of causing offence - and wistful. Sighs, 'Ahhhh ... cellardoor ...' Might need a bit of practice before launching it in public!

Normalsizedsalad · 08/10/2023 16:30

Wallah has been greatly used on SM for a while because posters confused it with voilà 🙈 "and wallah, I have pink wall" oddly it made sense actually, just not the inteded one😂 Yeah we see you are not lying😂

Dh just got home so I asked him. He absolutely agreed that if you have friends who are arabs or muslims it's actually nice if you pick up few of these (just as pointed out remember how it is actually used😁) but if you just want to use it randomly with bunch of non arab or muslim people it will be odd.

My current fave is "hamar"-donkey. Use it greatly at certain drivers...

TotallyScouting · 08/10/2023 16:27

I lived in the Middle East for four years and often say it without thinking. It was just a common thing when we were out there - almost like English people might say ‘touch wood’, but with naturally more religious overtones. I would sincerely hope no one has ever been offended by it…

laclochette · 08/10/2023 16:25

I use it a lot (non Muslim) cos it's just so useful, as well as being such a pleasing word in how it sounds. Can't think of an English word or phrase that does the trick in the same way. It can be used in quite a tongue in cheek way or entirely seriously, just as it is in Arabic. Lots of my friends know and use it too - perhaps living in a very multicultural city there's just more cross-pollination of this sort. None of my Muslim friends have said when I asked that they found it appropriating or offensive, although no one person can speak for everyone of a given group of course. But yeah I love it, a great addition to the vocabulary.

Thepeopleversuswork · 08/10/2023 16:22

loislovesstewie · 08/10/2023 16:00

As others have said; I just find it pretentious.

I know what you mean but it troubles me a bit that people feel using any word that isn't indigenous to their language is fake or pretentious though. Where do you draw the line with this?

As others have pointed out modern English is riddled with phrases originating from other languages ("deja vu", "bon mot", "fiasco", "safari" "ad nauseam", "lingua franca", "kosher". "pizza"). Like most other languages, English has evolved from the mixing of a number of much older languages: it contains a lot of old English but also French, latin, German, some Celtic words etc. Some of that was imposed on the indigenous population deliberately by colonialisation (eg by the Romans or later the French). But a lot of it is just people introducing other words spontaneously because they have learned them. At some point someone starts the ball rolling with this and it becomes widely used.

The idea that people should police the boundaries of what is acceptable for a native speaker to introduce is unrealistic and a bit controlling.

MankyMinge · 08/10/2023 16:17

catnipevergreen · 08/10/2023 16:10

I use Yalla a lot - I shout it for my cats to come inside !! And wallah 😂 just little mannerisms you pick up from living there. My daughter still says yani - kind of like is using "like" in a sentence.

Used to live next door to a couple from Sri Lanka and they used yalla to call the cat. The cat 's name was Jasper!

DarklySparkly · 08/10/2023 16:16

MorrisWallpaper · 08/10/2023 12:45

But it doesn’t mean anything like ‘touch wood’. You are literally saying something will take place if it is god’s will. Unless you are the type of fatalistic religious type who naturally lards her conversations with ‘God willing’, it would be deeply weird.

It’s also incredibly annoying and passive. My mother, like lots of elderly Irish women of her background, says ‘Please God’ every two minutes. ‘See you on Friday, please God’, ‘I’m meeting Chris later, please God’, ‘He’s starting a new job in New York, please God’. It drives me mad. Yes, I get it’s the defence mechanism of someone who has never seized control of her own life, but it is just so passive!

To the point where, once when I was flying somewhere in the ME and the pilot came on the PA and said ‘We’ll be landing in X in two hours, Inshallah’, it gave me the rage.

@MorrisWallpaper that was my Irish Catholic grandmother too 😂 I’ve spent years recovering from the fear that if I don’t say “please God” I might be struck down.

Sodullincomparison · 08/10/2023 16:16

I had a student and we went through the same routine every week:

”don’t forget to do your homework”

”Inshallah”

seems it was never God’s will for the home work to be done.

Shirtcollar · 08/10/2023 16:16

It's just a phrase that happens to be in another language. It's not 'owned' by anyone but God. As a Muslim, no I wouldn't be offended at all and like a PP I'd actually find it quite sweet.