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)?

@KnickerlessParsons
Had no idea crossing fingers and touch wood were related to The Cross. Interesting!
I thought touch wood might go all the way back to pagan times and veneration of trees

Yeah that's what I meant by the people outside often don't understand the actual use😂
I had so many hissy fits about it😂
"inshallah"
"nononono, yes or no"
"inshallah habibti, inshallah"
😑

Names of food are quite different to someone using random phrases in normal english conversations

You can't just say 'of course'. You have to explain why.
The God thing we already know is not a universal rule because plenty of non-Christians, actually everyone who speaks English, invoke God in their words all the time so it only leaves the 'language you don't understand'. That makes no sense either because words and expressions are constantly borrowed from one language to another.

What’s with the policing. Of course OP can use it, it’s not offensive so it’s up to her if she sees fit to use it. Also, the example of Turkish actors not practicing- how would you know? Just because they don’t dress / look /act like stereotypical Muslims from other countries doesn’t mean they don’t have faith. I say that as someone with Turkish Muslim family. People can be modern and still have faith, even if they’ve adapted to the modern world.

Why?

This ^^

It makes you sound like a try hard smartie pants, OP.

I say it as a ‚this is what is intended, I have every hope of it happening, and bar acts of God it will happen.‘

It’s like promising something but wanting the fact that there could be an earthquake preventing it, taken into account.

I wouldn’t say it’s offensive (I’m not Muslim so my opinion is probably irrelevant) but it depends who you’re talking too.

I always say ‘Inshallah,’ ‘Mashallah’ ‘Astaghfirullah’ and a few others when talking to my Muslim & non Muslim Arab friends. It’s apart of their everyday conversation so it kind of becomes automatic when speaking to them.

If someone in Sainsbury’s compliments my 18 month old I’m not just gonna say Mashallah😂 so I think it just depends! Can’t see how it’s be offensive though

It would not be perceived as offensive by Muslims or Middle Easterners, IMO. And, indeed, Christian Arabs very much use the expression, as although its root may be Islamic (as are a lot of Arabic expressions), it is a common modern-day cultural and linguistic expression.

My English and Christian mother uses the expression often. She picked it up from my father, who is a Muslim.

I work with Arabs and if they say it to me , I reply the same. I never initiate it and wouldn't dream of saying it to a non Muslim

"I thought touch wood might go all the way back to pagan times and veneration of trees"

You might be right: Where does the phrase ''touch wood'' come from? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk (theguardian.com)

I do think @Precipice has got it. It’s two separate issues. You’re talking about a religious meaning and then a “foreign” language (ie one you don’t speak and is not the official language of the land in which you reside).

So it’s not the equivalent of saying “not kosher.” The Jewish equivalent would be maybe more like peppering your speech with Yiddish phrases. Like saying, “Oy vey!” when something goes wrong or is frustrating. If you don’t think it would sound strange to insert random Yiddish words into your speech, then perhaps it is not strange, in your opinion to insert random Arabic-Muslim words.

So I do think it’s more about foreign language. If you are in an Arabic-speaking location, I think it would probably be fine to use it.

But you’re also running into another problem with single loan words from other languages. While I’m not Muslim, I witnessed this exchange between my friend’s little brother and her mum when all three of us were teenagers:
Mum: ”When are you going to bring me your clothes to wash???”
Brother: He was flipping through a magazine in the lounge and just went, “Eh, inshallah, inshallah.”
So I feel like you might be romanticizing it juuuuust a wee bit? But you’d do better to talk to an actual Muslim about this (as obviously, I’m as far from an expert in someone else’s culture as a cat is from the moon).

Maybe your idea of bringing back Godspeed is better. I mean, why not? My gran used it and she only died in 2020, so it’s only been out of circulation (if it even IS out of circulation, if my gran was the last person on earth using it, ha) for three years. You could be responsible for its comeback, OP!

I (Muslim) don’t find it offensive if op uses it and very much doubt the majority of Muslims would have a problem at all. You’re saying it cos you like it, not to take the pee or anything, so go ahead. Muslims in general are not an exclusive or exclusionary group we tend to be happy to see others accepting any parts of our religion or customs so if you’re sincere go ahead

There’s something very Allan Partridge about using a foreign word totally out of context just because you like the sound of it.

I use it if speaking urdu to Muslim friends but I'm non Asian muslim if that makes a difference. Otherwise just God willing.

"If you don’t think it would sound strange to insert random Yiddish words into your speech"

That would sound strange to me because I'm not in contact with any Yiddish speakers, but Americans do this all the time.

They certainly don't all agree that they're all worshipping the same God. Very far from it.

I mean a lot of people say "bon app" I'm guessing because they think it sounds nicer than "enjoy your food".
I have a French friend who doesn't speak English who uses "that is the life" all the time 😅

Yiddish has very much been borrowed and become commonplace in English lexicon. Schlep, schtum, nosh are three that immediately come into my head, but I'm sure there are many more words.

@feralunderclass
Chutzpah!

I am aware that some Christians believe that Allah refers to a different person than "God" which is an English word adopted instead of the original Hebrew, but most of the three faiths believe there is only one so the word Allah cannot refer to another deity. Palestiniab Christians use it.
I have a friend who uses DV.(God willling in Latin) Means the same as inshallah, and definitely calls on the same God.
If there a folk who like to think we are all talking of a different deity they are wrong.

I teach in a primary school where many of the non-muslim boys use Arabic phrases quite liberally, and we've had pupil forum discussions (including Muslim and Arabic speaking pupils and staff) about it as the usage feels 'off'; eg exclamations of 'mashallah' when something bad happens to someone you don't like or are in competition with such as someone falling over or missing a penalty shot, and 'wallahi' to back up blatant lying: "Wallahi, I didn't take her pencil!" It's odd, because our Muslim pupils say they wouldn't use those phrases in those contexts, so I don't get how our non-muslim pupils have come to misconstrue application in this way.

The reasons why it might come across as offensive is that people might think you were taking the piss or engaging in cultural appropriation. If you were using it in a context where you had friends/ people around you who regularly use it (being Muslim/ Arab etc) then that would seem normal, but otherwise I think it would come across as out of place/ rather odd and therefore potentially appear offensive.

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

Yes. See also 'karma' - which 99% of the time is invoked by people who are very probably not Hindu or Buddhist.