God willing ...

There is a phrase that you will hear many many times a day in Jordan and throughout the Arab world - "in sha' Allah". Literally it means "if God wills it", and is used whenever someone talks about something that is planned for or happening in the future - "we will leave tomorrow in sha' Allah", "it will rain tomorrow in sha' Allah".

However, there seem to be a lot of mis- (or different) understandings about what the phrase 'in sha' Allah' means - I was talking to some British tourists this weekend who were complaining about hearing this word all the time, which for them was just an Arabic way of saying "it 's not going to happen, but we 're too polite to say so" ... well, this is sometimes what it means in practice, but not always, and I couldn't help feeling that there was a not-so-subtle hint of racism in these tourists' attitude to their Arab hosts ... so I got on my high horse and had a good old chat with them, some of which I thought I'd also share with you, about my understanding of this essential phrase to date.

First of all, according to the Qur'an, every Muslim should use the phrase whenever they are talking about the future (interestingly, there is a similar demand in the Bible, somewhere in the Epistle of James);

Muslim scholar Ibn Abbas stated that it is in fact obligatory for a Muslim to say "in Sha' Allah" when referring to something he or she intends to do in the future. If carelessness leads to the omission of the phrase, it may be said at a later time upon the realization of the omission. This is stated in the Qur'an, in al-Kahf (The Cave) 18:23-24. And do not say, regarding anything, 'I am going to do that tomorrow,' Except (with the saying), "If Allah wills!" And remember your Lord when you forget and say: "It may be that my Lord guides me unto a nearer way of truth than this."

While I've heard some people claim that only the more devout Muslims actually stick to this, my experience in Jordan has been that people use it all the time almost instinctively, much as British people have a natural reflex to say "please" when asking for something. Whether this is because Jordan generally is more devout I don't know for sure, not having much to compare it to, but judging by the skinniness of some jeans and the very large number of alcohol vendors and bars for such a small Christian community, I'm guessing that there is a range of devoutness here like anywhere. It just seems that "in sha' Allah" is one of those basics that no-one really deviates from, and leaving it out would feel as strange to a Jordanian as asking for something without saying "please" and "thank you" would grate in Britain.

Inshallah (God willing), Bukra (tomorrow), Maalish (no problem) ...

This doesn't mean that the phrase is without meaning though, becoming what one New York journalist refers to as "a bit of a linguistic tic that has attached itself to nearly every moment, every question, like the word “like” in English". The idea that the future is not necessarily in our control, but rather that something will or won't happen depending on if Allah wills it, is pretty fundamental to the way people think here on the whole, and is something I can partly understand if in slightly less religious terms - while many people like to think that they are in full control of their own destinies, in reality this is only every partly true and other things (life? Allah?) come along that change our plans. It's true that leaving everything in the hands of fate / Allah / whatever you think accounts for how things turn out, can be (or at least seem like) an excuse for inaction - "I don't need to do anything, it's not in my hands". However, this isn't necessarily the case, and I certainly don't see people sitting around here doing nothing all day every day ... so there must in reality be some balance for the majority of people between trying to head in one direction or another and being ready to get blown onto a different course.

Using "in sha' Allah" does also seem to have a religious meaning, that acknowledges submission to God, with the speaker putting him or herself into God's hands, and accepting the fact that God sometimes works in inscrutable ways. Again, our New York journalist has a rather over-the-top way of putting this, saying that

Inshallah has become the linguistic equivalent of the head scarf on women and the prayer bump, the spot where worshipers press their foreheads into the ground during prayers, on men. It has become a public display of piety and fashion, a symbol of faith and the times.

The fact that less-devout and even non-Muslims use the phrase here in Jordan shows that it is not just an affirmation of Islamic piety - but it is one aspect of using the phrase, and an important one to recognise - as our New York friend finally admits at the end of his piece, "it is a powerful reference, intended or not."

And yes, it's true that when people say "tomorrow, in sha' Allah" it can mean anything from "of course tomorrow, as long as Allah wills it!" to "never gonna happen ..." ... but if it doesn't happen, (and this was for those annoying tourists I was talking to, not you beloved people!), it is not necessarily because of some fatalistic inability to take responsibility and act, or inherent laziness dressed up as faith, or because people aren't plucky enough to say "no" - maybe the person tried really hard and just couldn't do it, or it was never possible in the first place but they didn't want you to be sad ... or for any number of reasons!

To end, this quote from an Arabic and English speaker responding to a personal blog on the subject of "in sha' allah":

"There are words that simply don’t need translation. Ma’alesh is one of them and inshallah is another. I use them all the time in English as they mean so much more than anything I could translate them into. That’s the problem. Inshallah can mean “god willing”, “I hope”, “I won’t hold my breath” or “when pigs fly”….or any two at the same time."

Clear as mud eh ...