Is it offensive to say inshallah?

[Loulou599]

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)?

Be a bit odd if you're not religious.

It's a bit odd to use a phrase from someone else's religion because you think it sounds nice and is wistful.

It is a word and you like to use it in an appropriate context.

I wouldnt say it offensive.

Unless you are talking to muslims or arabs it's odd imho.
Also because people outside don't fully understand how inshallah is really used😂 took me few months to catch on.

"so you will do it in about an hour?"
"inshallah"
😑

It definitely would be odd as it is a religious saying.
It is a beautiful word but surely the meaning would be lost anyway as you aren't a Muslim, I don't believe it should be said because it sounds nice.

As for offensive I'm not sure as I'm not a Muslim so couldn't assume how someone might perceive it.

I'm a Muslim and non Muslims will often add this in with a bit of a laugh to show me they are familiar with the phrase. It's not offensive at all. But if you are non Muslim and using it with other non Muslims it might be a bit odd because they might not understand it.

Non muslims arabs use it, not just muslims btw

I dont think a word 'belongs' to anyone.

I looked it up and it means 'god willing' in arabic.

Just a word so sure you could use it.

I use ‘Bukra fil mish mish’ often.

Yeah as well as being a beautiful sound IMO there is something in the idea of fate aligning there. Where fingers crossed or touch wood to me is almost like there's a negative idea of an "anti curse". Anyone know what I'm on about?!

”if Gods wills it” makes sense if you have some kind of religious faith, even if you are not a native Arabic speaker. Saying it just because it sounds nice is just daft.

I would register it as mildly odd because whereas ‘god willing’ can refer to your god, my god, any god, Allah is a specific god.

As an atheist I wouldn’t say it anyway.

Yes true, Arab Christians use it too.

Seems more logical to use "God willing" surely, given that if you're not Muslim you likely won't have much of a concept of the Allah in question?

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.

“Allah” is just “God” in Arabic, just as “Dieu” is God in French. It’s not a “specific God” - and in any case, Muslims, Christians and Jews all agree in the oneness of God, they are not talking about different deities.

Are you planning to use other words from other languages or is it just this?

The Hebrew equivalent is something like "with the help of God", and also drives me crackers (be'ezrat Hashem).

Not offensive but a bit weird. I've said it often when talking to my Arabic speaking family but it would be really weird of me to use it when speaking to non Muslim English people.

I have never thought if it as a Muslim word, just an Arabic one so I’d say it is more like God Willing in the generic ‘your god’ sense.

Foreign words are often adopted into common parlance, this is just another word.

@Normalsizedsalad
It's just this I like. Although I do also use "not kosher" (I'm not jewish)

Plus, the 3 Abrahamic faiths all believe in the same god anyway.

I was taught the phrase by Muslim colleagues who are very happy to have it used as its just 'God willing' using the Muslim name for who they believe is one (shared) God. But, the Muslim people are I know tend to be very inclusive and generous with sharing aspects of their religion with non Muslims, and obviously everyone is different. I personally don't use it or 'God willing' because I'm an athiest, so all being well works for me.

Don't go around just dropping random words from other languages into your everyday conversation if you don't actually speak the language. It's weird.

I'm Christian, if someone I knew didn't have faith in God I'd find them saying "God willing" or "God bless" or whatever a bit odd. I wouldn't be offended but I don't understand why you would say it.

Following on from @MorrisWallpaper and "Please God", my great aunt used to always say things like "I'll need to go to the butcher's tomorrow if God spares me" or "Let's go out for a cup of tea next Tuesday if God spares me". "If God spares me I'll go into town at the weekend and buy some new shoes"