Hall 1101-351

Ahsham Nasir

English 1101

Professor Dr. Carrie Hall

31 August, 2018

Inshallah, I’ll get it Done!

            Imagine being in a tough situation where you have no idea what the correct decision is and you really want to make the correct decision, so you can be successful. Well, as a Muslim in New York City, and as well as all Muslims around the world, we have a phrase just for these situations and basically for any kind of situation. Inshallah, a small word with a heavy meaning, “if Allah (God) wills it.” This type of phrase or any phrase like this, like Assalamualaykum are the first and last words that come out of any Muslim person’s mouth. This is a common term used by Muslims all over the world. It is used for anything. I’m going home, inshallah. I’m going to come over to your house, inshallah. I’m going to get a good grade on this essay, inshallah. Any condition that you can think of, even if it’s something little or stupid, inshallah has you covered. In the majority of times that this is said, it is to escape introspection, hard work, and/or strategic planning.

 

As a Muslim in America, it is important that we make time for the religious worship, as well as focus on our religion. Because as some people know, Muslims are required to pray five times a day. It seems like a lot of times, but honestly not all, Muslims pray five times due to things that we find that are more important to us. With this issue, God has made it a lot easier for us because after saying inshallah it is more likely for the thing to actually happen. For example, if I were to say, I will get all my work done and not procrastinate, and I say inshallah, then I have a high chance of not procrastinating and getting my work done. This is because in the Quran or Koran, the word inshallah has appeared more than 22 times. If something is stated in a sacred book, you know the meaning of that word is obviously true. It has to have a meaning. It cannot be in there for no reason. On top of it being in the Quran, it is stated in a way, so that someone said they needed to do something, and they remembered to do it.

 

Some people who are not educated about the Arabic language will most likely be threatened or even intimidated by the usage of the language, but in reality, it’s just the world’s fourth most spoken language, nothing to be intimidated about. According to a report in 2016 in the New York Times “Inshallah Is Good for Everyone” Wajahat Ali, writes about a college student being asked to exit a South West Airlines flight because he was speaking in Arabic on the plane. What was he really saying on the plane? He was not ranting about death or terror. He was simply on the phone talking, and before he hung up, he had said inshallah, which the other passengers on the aircraft had misinterpreted to have a meaning of something else. If you are not educated about something, how can you assume something, especially something that is in another language?  On top of this, the same report shows that two men were questioned before they could enter their South West Airlines flight. Why? The answer was because some passengers had complained that the two men were speaking in Arabic, and their fellow passengers were afraid to fly with them.

 

Many languages are spoken around the world, such as English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, and so many more. Arabic is just another language that is spoken. If people aren’t intimated by other people speaking Russian or Chinese, why are people scared of Arabic? People have a habit of misunderstanding the language, or they have a xenophobia.

 

To Muslims in the United States and especially in New York City, the usage of inshallah has increased dramatically, especially within my local religious circle. I have noticed that more and more people have started to use inshallah and have become closer to their religion. A survey question posted online, asked why people use inshallah and why the usage has increased throughout the years. It shows that people are becoming more educated about their religion and embracing their religion more. The majority of responders have shown inshallah, and words like this are part of a Muslim’s everyday conversation, and responders have shown that in their personal lives they have increased their usage of words like this. On top of this another survey has shown that, non-Muslim people with Muslim friends have also started to use inshallah in their lives when they remember to. The responders have shown that the usage of a word such as this, with its good meaning, has been used by all people and for all purposes, inshallah nowadays is just ubiquitous in many people’s vocabulary and lives.

 

Using religious words, and especially a word that is in a different language in casual conversation, may seem odd, but in reality, more and more people are doing it. My mother who has non-Muslim coworkers says that, every time her boss gives her some paperwork that needs to be done urgently, when receiving the paperwork my mother will say, “Inshallah I’ll have it back to you as soon as possible.” My mother told me that every time she says that, she gets the work back to her boss as soon as possible. My mother told me that sometimes when she gets some work and doesn’t say inshallah, she usually doesn’t get the work done and forgets. My mother told me that one day when she was leaving work, her co-work said ,“See you tomorrow.” My mother responded, “inshallah.” When her co-worker asked what it meant, my mother told her why she uses inshallah and what are the benefit of using inshallah. After my mother had finished explaining to her co-worker the meaning and benefits, her co-worker was shocked that this small word had such a good meaning. Now, whenever my mother leaves, work her co-work tells her “inshallah see you tomorrow.”

 

Sometimes people need to be educated in places they don’t know anything about, and on top of that, if it’s a religious thing, people need to understand. They don’t need to be intimidated about people speaking in another language. Inshallah is a word in the world’s fourth most spoken language, which means “if Allah(God) is willing.” It has made me and my religious community into what we are today. The more we use this word, the more it becomes part of our lives, like my mother teaching her co-worker the meaning and having her start using this word. Inshallah is and always will be a part of my community and part of all Muslim’s lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MLA Format Citation

Ali, Wajahat. Inshallah Is Good for Everyone.  New York Times, 22 Apr. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/opinion/sunday/inshallah-is-good-for-everyone.html.

 

Why Does Everyone Say Inshallah. www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/showthread.php?83941-Why-does-everyone-say-Inshallah.

 

Yahya, Harun. Quran Index. 30 Oct. 2018, quranindex.net/kelime.php?id=8315.

 

Slackman, Michael. “With a Word, Egyptians Leave It All to Fate.” New York Times, 20 June 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/world/middleeast/20inshallah.html.