InshaAllah.
Also spelled Inshallah.
You hear it a lot in this country. It means "God willing," or "Allah willing." Or, for those of us who speak Southern, it means "Good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise."
Used sparingly, it's kind of a neat, handy phrase for a strong "I hope so." As in, "I won't have the baby until my parents get here, Inshallah." Or, "One of these days I'll get to bed before midnight, Inshallah."
(For those of you who took Spanish, this is where "ojala" comes from. Eight centuries of Muslim rule rubbed off on those Spaniards, I guess!)
However, used too much, it changes from "I hope so" to "If I feel like it." As in, when the man from irrigation who has an emergency appointment to come to fix your busted sprinkler that is flooding your front porch calls and says "I might make it to your house today, Inshallah." Or when you take your broken phone to the cell phone store, and the guy there says, "I might fix this after prayer, Inshallah." It's the ultimate cop-out.
Then it's really scary when the doctor uses it. As in, "Your baby looks healthy, Inshallah." WHAT? There's no Inshallah about this!! DO YOUR JOB and CHECK if my baby is healthy! Don't just leave it up to God!! (Remember, these are the same people who don't wear seat belts, because if God wants you to die in a car wreck, then it's your time to die.)
(Unless you are the man, which means that you are the most important person in the family, so you do wear your seat belt. I can hardly tell you how many times I have seen a family driving on the road where the mom and kids are just loose in the car - on the console, turned around backwards in the back rear window, on top of each other in the back seat - and the dad is belted in nice and secure up there in the driver's seat. So hard to watch.) (They'll arrive safely, Inshallah.)
So now you know what it means, so you'll understand when I say it. They'll get ground beef at the commissary tomorrow, Inshallah. The road by the gas station will open up before I run out of gas, Inshallah. And the windows in Al Midra will stay in, Inshallah.
Maybe I should say, "I will write on the blog more, Inshallah!" :)
Glad you are back!!! :))
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather used to say "you can't do business on Insallah and Masallah!"... Not sure about Mashallah as it just means approving something or liking something but he was right on Inshallah. It has more like the meaning of if I get to it, in Turkey as well. There is no clear confirmation of anything. Drives me nuts everytime. Perfect cover up for laziness.