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)?

Not at all. Everyone uses it here where I live not just locals. It's a very common turn of phrase

Because she comes from the culture that produced orientalism and has a bit of a xenophilic fetish. That's where 'wistful' comes from. It's a romanticization of the Orient. It also serves as a virtue signal to demonstrate one's extreme non-Islamophobia.

It would feel a bit odd, I think, like making the sign of the cross if you are not catholic?
but for me it is a religious phrase, not a colloquial one.
maybe if you lived in an Arab speaking country?
otherwise… substitute with the German or French phrase of Fingers crossed. Would you say this to other English people?

For what it's worth, I'm a Christian and although I may find it curious for a non believer to say "God speed" or "God willing" etc I wouldn't be offended.

I just am quite sceptical about the whole appropriation thing because it always seems to go one way, which I think doesn't make much sense. There was a ridiculous thread which got pulled the other day about a white woman with very curly hair wanting to wear box braids as a protective hairstyle which became quite heated. The woman wasn't seeking to make money off her hairstyle, or using it to mock or exploit black people, she just wanted a way of managing her hair. Some of us white curly ladies use afro products like silk bonnets, coconut or shea butters, wide toothed combs etc, I can't see owt wrong with it.

Don't get me wrong if I started using "inshallah" and one of my Muslim acquaintances found it offensive then I would not use it anymore . I don't seek to offend, that's against my own beliefs. I just feel we could lose some of our cultural richness by gatekeeping language and customs and hairstyles . If we are to gatekeep then at least we need to make it fair to all cultures , not go one way.

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

Thanks for such a great explanation. Gonna save it so next time I have the terms to express my thoughts.

The thing most people coming back from gap years pick up is saying “Namaste” and do the praying hands thing, when they mean “thank you”. Even if they’ve been backpacking around South America and never set foot in India. So at least you are being more original than that.

This is the equivalent of a Hindu crossing themselves when something bad happens, ie a weird thing to do, but not particularly offensive. Veers into being a bit othering/exoticising IMO, but nobody is going to punch you for it.

It gave you the rage? It would have given me the fear… I don’t want to land “god willing”, I want to 100%, definitely land!

As a Muslim myself, no it's not offensive and I'll find it sweet.

There are phrases so commonly used that they become part of the sociolect, and end up essentially separated from their original meaning.

‘Ya rab’ is the Arabic equivalent of ‘oh my God’, used in the same way, and there’s also the English ‘by Jove!’. The Romans themselves used ‘oh di immortales!’. ‘Taking it with a grain of salt’ is derived from ‘addito salis grano’, advised as an antidote to poison. ‘Beyond the pale’ and ‘throwing a paddy’ are a couple of other examples. It’s common in all languages and across all cultures.

As others have said; I just find it pretentious.

Unless you’re Muslim or speak Arabic, yes I’d feel like you’re taking the mick.

No Algeria.

We used to live in the Middle East and inshallah is playfully referred to an Arabic no e.g. "can you get these papers signed off for me please ? - ah habibti , inshallah Bukra (I'll do it tomorrow sweetheart ) 😊

Are you Muslim or arab?

if not then no don’t say it.

you don’t even know what it means in the Op. as a Muslim it’s so annoying ‘our’ words getting used wrong all the time. Sharia law and jihad and hijab just being a few- they don’t get used right and have been twisted in the media. Don’t take anymore. You have plenty of other words to use

Arab Christians say inshallah too. In very Catholic Malta the word for God is Allah ( their language is about 1/3 Arabic). I don’t t know if they say inshallah though. I suspect not, might be a step too far for them 🤣

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.

Maghreb Arabic has massively infiltrated teen speech in France, although most of it will be non religious words. Teenagers here in south London say Wallah- hee left right and centre. “ by God” . My teenagers had no idea what it meant till I told them .

That’s different- I say ‘is it kosher?’ Ie, legit - and I am Jewish!

I'm muslim and I don't find it offensive at all.
Although I found it is a common expression in France amongst non muslims but not in the UK at all, so it might come across as a bit weird here

I'd say it's a little odd if you have no connection to the word. I'm Welsh, and speak 'Wenglish' - snippets of Welsh mixed in with English. I have an English friend who has a second home in Wales (don't get me started on gentrification!!) and her husband has some distant link to Wales. She thinks this gives her licence to pepper her language with Welsh words. I know it's silly, but it drives me absolutely fucking barmy. If she lived in Wales it would be a different story, but she doesn't! She just holidays here, and likes it here.

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.

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.

@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.

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!