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)?

Hasn’t the pope said it’s the same God? And surely the same name, which literally means the God denotes they are the same?

Are they not?! Thanks for that. Everyday's a school day!!

That’s not correct.

Lah is the Arabic for God or diety

Al is the definite article meaning the

Allah therefore means The God, therefore implying the other Gods (that existed in polytheistic societies) are not the real true God

I prefer it to be used by people who understand the relevance of it because otherwise it just insincere.

Which is why the declaration of faith is ‘la ilaha illa Allah’ there is no other God besides Allah

You mean the Pope who's making the joke 'Is the Pope a Catholic' not even funny anymore? No, the same word is irrelevant, that's just language. One God apparently finds the idea that he could have a son or be incarnate blasphemous. The other one had a son who not only became incarnate but died to save all of humanity. Awkward stuff. And that's barely the start of it.

I love the sound of it and may say it in my head but not out loud, as I’m a white, Christian, middle class woman, I’d sound like a pretentious twat.

Well he’s the head of the Catholic Church, does the Church of England not have a similar position also?

so Muslims would just generally believe that in regards to the begotten son that Christians are just misguided there, and teeter into polytheism but the belief that it’s absolutely the same god

Inshallah is nothing like the meaning of mañana mañana.

And to even use the expression Inshallah should never be taken lightly. And people can usually tell when it’s being said with any feeling or depth or if it’s being said as a throw away comment.

Why do you love the sound of it? I’d interrogate that first before saying you’d sound pretentious

You realise English is a mishmash of many languages. If you use words like pyjamas, thug, tsunami, pro rata, de facto, ketchup, gun ho, ballet, and on and on

Perhaps best not to use it in case it hurts god's feelings.

But this isn’t just like saying merci to be international, it’s from a religion and culture that gets a lot of flack in the west. If someone wants to use it, they need to ask themselves why?

it sounds cool? Well ok, if you like the sound of the Arabic language take some lessons, learn and turn you can speak it

you like putting God at the heart of every action? Great, then find some way to do that in your own faith or language

you feel connected to Islam? Then maybe attend a few masjids and study to see if it’s the right faith for you

otherwise it’s just hollow appropriation especially considering we have enough words to convey this specific meaning in the English language. God willing works as does hopefully

I love the mellifluous sound of the word and the sentiment behind it.
’God willing’ does not perform the same function.

It’s actually 3 words. God willing absolutely does perform the same function for an English speaking Christian.

but if you like the Arabic language (and it is cool, there’s a lot of richness you might appreciate) you could look at some classes

I'm not talking about what the leadership of any religion happens to currently say. Those people are a farce.

I know you believe it's the same god. What you don't seem to understand is that this little bit of 'misguidedness' is absolutely foundational to Christianity. And as for teetering into polytheism, yeah. I know what the punishment for polytheism is in Islam. Do you? Same god though, sure. Maybe he's had some minor communication problems.

I intend to continue using from time to time, it’s also part of my history, I grew up in a Muslim country and heard it all the time, it’s a connection to that for me. I’ve used it in front of other Muslims, usually with a smile, no one has ever told me they had an issue with it.

We do as a family, despite not being Arabic or Muslim because we lived in Saudi Arabia when I was a child. It’s usually used ironically though as we all know Inshallah means… hmmm we’ll see!

forgetting Unitarian Christians there but ok.

there is no punishment for polytheism in Islam, so you can’t. There’s a punishment (debatable) but leaving Islam but not for being a Hindu

well the bible isn’t widely understood to be direct revelation, that’s something a basic theology degree would teach you, so the Islamic position is that people misunderstood the message. The bible was comprised hundreds of years after jesus’s death through much oral history, it’s not that much of a ridiculous position to have that some things could’ve got altered changed. We have a similar issue with hadith, which is why some narrations have been viewed to be weak or even if they are deemed reliable they can vary here and there

If it's really offensive for non Muslims to say it then I won't. I would rather not risk upsetting someone.

This thread has made me smile. I live in the GCC and Insha’allah is commonly used by locals and (non-Muslim) expats alike, and the way it is said - tone and context - can mean completely different things. There is ‘insha’allah’ meaning ‘I’ll do my best’; there is the ‘insha’allah’ that means ‘it’s absolutely not going to happen, but I don’t want to be blunt and tell you,’ and there is a lightly passive-aggressive ‘Insha’allah’ if you’ve irritated the person you’re making the request to, among many more. As phrases go, it is the cornerstone of conversation, and I’ve had to learn to ‘hear’ the different undertones so as not to completely misunderstand what’s actually being said. 🙂

So many Jewish words are ingrained into English dialect and used by Jew and non Jew alike. Spiel, schtick, Chutzpah, nosh... So many. But then the Jewish faith has been around in England for centuries.

@Mvslimah it must be frustrating when people pronounce or say the words wrong, I can understand that.

Look it’s not jaw on the floor offensive BUT in the wider cultural context of Muslims living in the Uk are still viewed as the enemy within or as not to be trusted or general Islamic terms and beliefs wildly misrepresented it can get a bit frustrating to then hear that because a word sounds cool someone’s going to use it without it’s kinda annoying. Now this is just my opinion, some might find it nice, but I would say largely it’s dependent on the person trying to use it, ie if trying to find common ground or just sounding exotic. I personally feel Muslims sometimes can’t do right from wrong. Just look how many on here are offended by modest fashion and the headscarf

Declaring this to be so doesn't make it so. Many Jews and Christians in particular do not agree with this, never have and never will.

So they think it's a different god? A different Moses? A different Abraham? A different Noah? A lot of coincidences there.