About this message on the front of a bus?

[Iop]

This morning in town a bus passed me with the phrase Mash'alla displayed on the front instead of the bus number and destination. AIBU to have found it unsettling?
We're in an area with a large Pakistani Muslim population and there were small pockets of celebration following the initial attacks on Israel (nothing violent or disruptive, just horns/cheering/Palestinian flag waving).
If I were to complain to the bus company (I won't - I don't have time) it would be on the grounds that it's unprofessional for bus drivers to be proclaiming their political or religious beliefs on the front of their busses. But if I'm honest my discomfort was about more than that - I wouldn't have felt as unsettled if the message had been "vote Tory" or "Happy Diwali" even though neither of those reflect my personal beliefs any more than Mash'alla does.
Am I being reasonable or Islamaphobic?

Literally the opposite. There are often Jesus saves posters on busses but the humanists weren’t allowed to put God Doesn’t Exist on a poster on a bus.

Mashallah is not the phrase Muslims would use to celebrate something. So I highly doubt it’s there as a response to what’s happened in Israel.

By all means, question it with the bus company for reassurance, but everyone claiming it must be anti Semitic are being extreme.

With all due respect, this isn't Pakistan.
(I appreciate you are just trying to add some explanation/context).

Why are you telling me this when I'm responding to a thread about buses that expressed none of my views or understanding of world politics other than that I do not speak much Arabic (try other languages)?

Hamas are terrorists.

Was it Red rose travel? They are a Muslim owned company with Arabic writing on their buses

There is growing evidence of the horrors the terrorist group hamas has done. Defending them is sickening and a true disservice to peaceful Palestinians.

I thought it would be South Bucks. We're near High Wycombe and there is a very very high Asian population.

It would be interesting to hear what the bus company say if you do get in touch OP

Anything written in a language which is not an official language in that country/not spoken by a significant part of the population could be misinterpreted - people are entitled to question the meaning/intent, and different languages will arouse suspicion, rightly or wrongly, at different time points in history.

Ask bus company whether the new service to Mash’alla is to be a regular thing and for a timetable?

Whatever it means, it's not acceptable. If it's a service bus it should have number and destination. If it's out of service it should say Out Of Service. Bus drivers aren't allowed to put whatever message they like on the front of buses!

Maybe go to Pakistan and write 'God save the King' on buses and see how you get on 😀 It's probably innocent but still wholly inappropriate IMO.

@Babochan88 excuse me I was simply saying that they were resistance fighters against Israel, - not defending any bad that they have done. Do your research please.

High Wycombe OP?

I've seen buses with Jesus lives on the side, a while ago, can't remember which organisation paid for it but it was a paid for campaign. I also have lots of posters outside of my work, but it's a church!

Well if they were an organised group adhering to a rape and murder ideology and I happened to be visiting Luton, then yes, I would be extra vigilant

What gives you the impression that I have plans to do that, or even think it's a remotely good idea?
(As it stands I wouldn't write 'god save the king' on anything, because there is no god and I'd prefer there to be no king.)

I was just making a joke! Not really aimed at you. More like 'if one went to Pakistan...' . I probably shouldn't have replied directly to your post though, it was intended for the thread in general.

@Babochan88 the innocence of all Civilians matter, including the Palestinian which are currently 2 million of them under siege, with no food or electricity.

I think it should be reported to the police and to the local council. It's absolutely wrong- inflammatory and provocative and the company have made a real misjudgement. Tomorrow will it be okay if it says 'Allahu Akbar' - it means God is Greater ...but was being chanted by Hamas as they drove off sitting on the semi-naked body of a Jewish woman on their truck after kidnapping and injuring/killing her.
It is insensitive, provocative and inflammatory and appalling judgement. At the very least the bus company need to be told that formally.
Which bus and where- I am happy to contact the council/police.

I don’t understand why you have made a connection to the terrorist attacks in gaza though? It’s a perfectly innocuous expression. It’s like saying “feeling blessed” on Facebook when you post a picture of a cup of tea or whatever.

Hamas are terrorists.

It might well be a 'perfectly innocuous expression' however as it's in a foreign (so not official to the UK) language, a lot of people will have no idea what it means - exactly like OP!

@NinaBeee

Muslims have been seen as the enemy since the Crusades.

I would say though that the bus driver/company was wrong - it's spelt Masha’Allah 🙄. Also, I’m not sure what the bus driver was inferring - that the killing of innocent people is God’s Will? Really?

The Quran and Sunnah are guaranteed to be in accordance with how Allah wants Muslims, and mankind in general, to behave! “Hence, if any Muslim kills an innocent person, that Muslim has committed a grave sin, and the action cannot be claimed to have been committed "in the name of Islam."

Quran (5:32) says killing an innocent is like killing humanity.

Hamas hasn’t been fighting for 75 years, they are relatively new on the scene, having started in ~2006. And they were totally in the wrong to do what they did. Islam is a religion of peace and Hamas and other organisations (Taliban, etc.), twist Islam to fit their beliefs.

Hamas, the Taliban and others of their ilk are not representative of any Muslims that I know! And yes, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, but really? How can anyone not be sickened by reports of women being raped and children murdered?

Edit to add: Allah means God. Go to any place of worship, whether Muslim, Christian, or any religion that uses the word God, in an Arab speaking country and they will say the word Allah in their prayers, not God, which is an English word! Also, Jews, Christians and Muslims are all known as “people of the book” and are all monotheistic religions and all stem from the same prophet, Abram, later called Abraham. So people who get offended by the word Allah, it’s simply Arabic for God, and it’s the same God for all the three religions.

This is clearly a totally fabrication to get people frothing.