Thursday, October 9, 2008

The true meaning of "Inshallah"

You must have heard it once in your life... "Inshallah" literally means 'If Allah wills it', or generalized to 'God-willing'.

However, beware, in many instances it is thrown in for good measure when there is not a hope in hell of something actually happening. "We will sign the contract tomorrow, Inshallah" or "Inshallah, you will get a pay rise", implying that if Allah does not want it - you don't get it. It can even cover uncertainty - "Inshallah, the engineer will come tomorrow between 4 and 6". That means you do not know if he will come before 4, after 6, at the allocated time or even at all! And if there is a pause between the end of the sentence and "Inshallah", it means either that the person is not so sure any more or really can't be bothered. Bukhra means tomorrow - combine it with Inshallah, and you have "Inshallah, Bukhra" the severe form of Spanish termed 'manana effect'. It ain't gonna happen. Also beware of "Maafi Mushkil," literally "No problem". The problem is that it is a problem.

Happy travels... Inshallah

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