Yes, No or Maybe? What does the word Insha Allah mean?

Gulf News asks UAE residents what they think the word Insha Allah means.

Transcript

00:00Inshallah means, if God wills it. But my experience, the people who are using this word, saving

00:12themselves and they are not taking any guarantee, that means I feel that it will take time.

00:19I think the word Inshallah counterparts the Philippine response, best effort. I'm not

00:24sure though. I don't distinctly remember, but I think I had it before, especially when

00:30running on errands or a submission of anything for that matter. It's actually sceptical,

00:35I'm not really sure about it, but I think that this is the politically correct way of

00:41saying no nowadays.

00:42Well, 10 years ago, when I came to the UAE and I first heard the word Inshallah, I actually

00:49thought it means maybe. Then I met some Muslim friends. They told me Inshallah means, if

00:56God wants. But today, I have this feeling, people are still using the word Inshallah

01:02to say maybe. For instance, my friend would just say, Inshallah, I'll give you your money

01:06tomorrow.

01:07Hi everyone, Inshallah basically is an Islamic word. We use it when it comes to something

01:14that I'm going to do tomorrow, or in our time, or even in a minute time. If a meeting, I'm

01:19going to go attend, I'm saying I'm going to attend that meeting, Inshallah. So I'm

01:23going to, early in the morning, I'm going to go to the farm, Inshallah. I'm going to

01:26go to work tomorrow, Inshallah. I'm going to fly to London tomorrow, Inshallah. So the

01:31word Inshallah is used, it's drummed in us when we're a kid to use the word Inshallah.

01:36Inshallah means God willing. Yeah, so it could happen, it could not happen. I leave it to

01:41God. I should also use Inshallah sound louder. I can't just say in my heart, Inshallah, I'll

01:48attend. No, I have to say it to you, Inshallah, I'll attend to that meeting. And Inshallah,

01:52that meeting will be successful. And Inshallah, we're rich to what we want. Inshallah, Inshallah

01:57is used all the time. Unfortunately, some groups are using it as a joke, which is that

02:03means I'm not going to attend. And you hear it sometime in the street, we say, Inshallah

02:07Bukhra, Inshallah tomorrow, you might attend, you might not use as maybe I'll attend, maybe

02:13I'll attend. No, Inshallah means I want to attend, but it's all in his hand and God's

02:18hand is God's willing if he wants me to attend on because I could die. And he asked us, God

02:24asked us, turn it to me, say if I will allow you or not. It's not you who can go. And I

02:30remember once to the managers, he said, Inshallah. And after the meeting, I said to him, you

02:34have said, Inshallah, do you realize what you said? He said, Yeah, Ahmed, God willing,

02:39he wasn't a Muslim. He was an English gentleman. He was GM of the company. And it made me happy

02:46because Inshallah, Inshallah is not only for Muslim, Inshallah for everyone. Yeah, for

02:52all the religion in the world. You can't say I'll go tomorrow without saying Inshallah,

02:56you have to say it. We'll use it becomes dramatically. You can't stop saying, you know, not saying

03:02you have to say it. So Inshallah, I will be there.