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)?

My family are Christian Arabs and say it all the time, as do their Muslim friends, to mean yes, no, maybe, probably, hopefully, etc, depending on context. Sometimes I don't think it means anything in particular, it's just a speech marker. None of them are particularly devout though.

Karma refers to a philosophical principle that has no obvious translation into English though.

Inshallah has a very basic and straightforward translation , it means “god willing”, but Op prefers inshallah because she thinks it sounds “wistful”.

Because it's like names of places (some keep some have slightly changed versions but saying correct one is not weird) . That is the thing's name. There are bunch if dishes which are also not really translatable.

So "I am cooking gulash" is absolutely normal but having conversation with other english speakers and do random stuff like "I was so confused about the decision yesterday so decided to wait until today because rano mudrejsie vecera" is odd. That's how random inshallah would sound from someone with no connection to it speaking to people with no connection to it

Inshallah and Mashallah are both lovely sounds and meanings. I have a (non-Muslim) colleague who uses them with our Muslim colleagues. I slightly inwardly cringe, but none of them seem to take offence.

I’m not in the slightest religious but still say ‘Please God’ and ‘God save us and preserve us’ as expressions. Irish Catholic upbringing and it’s hard to not say things you grew up hearing!

It's not about the literal words people use. Theologically, no, all Christians, Muslims and Jews do not agree that they are worshipping the same god. For fairly obvious reasons if you're familiar with what each religion actually teaches about god and about what the others believe.

@Loulou599 hi OP, as a Muslim I would not be offended.

it's arabic for 'if God Wills', Arabs of all religions use it, so not just restricted to Muslims.

Muslims all over the world also use it.

Allah and the Christian and Jewish God are the same God

You think it sounds wistful because you come from the culture that produced orientalism.

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

Yes, it's the fundamental basis of Christianity that Jesus is the Son of God; yet the Qu'ran states clearly that Allah has begotten none.

I do think it seems quite convenient to a lot of people to reckon that every monotheistic religion must therefore be worshipping the same one God, but there's a lot of potential offence in making that assumption - especially when there are stark stated differences/opposites in the natures of the God who is worshipped.

"because rano mudrejsie vecera" is odd. That's how random inshallah would sound from someone with no connection to it speaking to people with no connection to it"

I have no idea what your first expression means, but I understand inshallah so it's clearly not as random is it. I presume OP lives in a diverse place, perhaps a city with a Muslim population. In that case, it won't be 'random'.

So I hope you don't use foreign language words such as café, latte, siesta, bungalow, aubergine, robot, orang-utan, etc. etc. etc.
Divvy.

Declaring things to be so doesn't make them so. People disagree about this, to put it politely, have done for millennia now.

@Justifiedcheese
eh, yes they do worship the same God! Of course they do. They are called the 3 Abrahamic religions for that very reason.

Their preferred choice on the hows and whys may differ but they certainly worship the same God.

I find it really cringey when people who don't really speak French or know the language use random French words like "bon app" 🤢. It's a bit 80s jelly Cooper novel.

(I'm a French speaker and did live in France so don't dislike the language before anyone thinks that. It's purely the oh-so-playful soixante neufs and the like which make me cringe. I'm aware this is probably a me problem)

Not only that but it's basically blasphemy in Islam and Judaism to claim that God could have a son or could be incarnated. People have to pretend it's the same God because of mass immigration and jihadism. It's a politically convenient fiction.

Jilly not jelly! And also my post was re the op saying she knows people who randomly use bon app because it sounds nicer.

Would you like to explain why you think that?

Again, declaring things to be so doesn't make them so. I love how people ignore literally millennia of theological discussion of this. There's no way this level of ignorance is an accidental outcome of 20th and 21st century western education systems.

Why don't you just say ' God willing?'

I think that’s been made more or less mainstream and not confined to referencing something not suitable for a Jewish person, tho, whereas inshallah is less so. Definitely a bit odd to be using such a phrase. Strikes me as pretentious, frankly.

It's hard to know where to begin really. Have you genuinely never come across this discussion before?

And yet no Arabic speaker here has found it offensive.
You can't really play the cultural appropriation card for words and expressions though. Languages have always borrowed from each other and always will.

Op didn't say where she lives just that she would like to use it instead of touch wood and god willing for it's pretty sound.
If she communicates with arab speakers or muslims, it's different than just random drop into english/non muslims conversations

Oy Vey!

Muslims believe our God are the same, but Christians have a detail wrong. The writings are about the same religious history, and they respect Jesus (pbuh) as a great prophet. Don't go saying what all Christians believe unless you know all Christians. And what they have read and been taught. That sort of thinking leads to trouble.

I am a practicing Christian but I am also fascinated by other religion’s greetings (even though I don’t use them myself). I particularly love how muslims greet each other with ‘Peace be with you’ in Arabic.
I do always say ‘God Speed’ if someone is traveling.