# صلِّ على النبي



## Lady Juliette

Hi! My first question here 
In the TV show Fauda, at some point a character says in Arabic "Salla ala nnabi", or something like that, and it is translated as "Calm down"... But I cannot find that expression anywhere. Could one of you please let me know if this is an expression? The Arabic subtitiles write "اهدأ", ahda, but that is not at all what he says. It really sounds like "Salla ala nnabi".
I would appreciate your help!
Thanks,
J.


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## normordm

What you're hearing is صلِ على النبي which basically means "say peace be upon the prophet" , but it's used as calm down. It's one of those expressions with ties to Islam.


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## Lady Juliette

Thank you very much normordm for the quick reply! Glad to have learned this expression.


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## cherine

Hi,

I just want to confirm that the expression صل على النبي Salli 3an-nabi is used colloquially to mean "calm down". But it doesn't have this meaning in Standard Arabic.


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## Mahaodeh

I just want to add that while the phrase is used in some contexts to encourage the person to calm down, not every time someone says it they mean this. Sometimes it's used to express other things and sometimes it's used literally. It's a cultural thing, there are other religious expressions that are used to mean a variety of things when they literally mean something else.


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## analeeh

Yes, and in fact the 'calm down' meaning is actually linked to the literal meaning in that you are literally telling someone to say 'peace be upon the Prophet' and take an emotional step back by doing so, a bit like telling somebody to 'take a deep breath' in English.


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## elroy

Mahaodeh said:


> Sometimes it's used to express other things and sometimes it's used literally.


 What other things other than that literal meaning?  I can’t think of anything.


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## cherine

elroy said:


> What other things other than that literal meaning?  I can’t think of anything.


In EA, it can mean "don't take it too seriously", "take it easy", "don't bother". It really depends on the context, tone and facial expression to know which meaning is intended, whether literal or not.


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## yayin

cherine said:


> Hi,
> 
> I just want to confirm that the expression صل على النبي Salli 3an-nabi is used colloquially to mean "calm down". But it doesn't have this meaning in Standard Arabic.



Thanks! By the way, did you mean "3an-nabi" or "3alan-nabi"?


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## analeeh

In many dialects it's pronounced as _3annabi_ (and the same goes for _3ala_ either everywhere or just before the definite article).


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## Mahaodeh

cherine said:


> In EA, it can mean "don't take it too seriously", "take it easy", "don't bother".


I've also head it said when trying to say: "no! this can't be true!" or "this is an exaggeration".


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## elroy

cherine said:


> "don't take it too seriously", "take it easy", "don't bother"


 I feel like these are very similar to "calm down"; they're kind of in the same semantic domain, no? 





Mahaodeh said:


> "no! this can't be true!" or "this is an exaggeration"


 Ah, yes -- I don't know if it's used that way in Palestinian Arabic, but it does ring a faint bell.

I should add that this particular expression is not used by Christians, so I haven't had a _ton_ of exposure to it.


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## cherine

elroy said:


> I feel like these are very similar to "calm down"; they're kind of in the same semantic domain, no?


Kind of, yes. But you would only perceive the difference if you witness different situations where it's used.



> I should add that this particular expression is not used by Christians, so I haven't had a _ton_ of exposure to it.


It's not inherently Christian, of course, this is why it's amusing when you hear it from a Christian  (And yes, I've heard Christians say things like استغفر الله/استغفر الله العظيم when fighting their anger or trying to calm down).


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## elroy

cherine said:


> And yes, I've heard Christians say things like استغفر الله/استغفر الله العظيم


 In Palestine, Christians use originally Islamic expressions that don't include uniquely Islamic references (I talked about this here).  استغفر الله (العظيم) is used because الله is also used to refer to God in Christianity.  صلِّ على النبي is not used (or is maybe rarely used) because النبي refers to Mohammed, who is not referred to as النبي in Christianity.


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## Matat

elroy said:


> استغفر الله (العظيم)


I think it's أستغفرُ ("I ask forgiveness"), not a command.


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## elroy

Matat said:


> I think it's أستغفرُ ("I ask forgiveness"), not a command.


 In Palestinian Arabic, it’s pronounced _staġfarrallā(hul-cazīm_).


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## Ali Smith

How did صل على النبي come to mean “Calm down.”? I mean, it literally means “Pray on the prophet.”, right?



elroy said:


> In Palestinian Arabic, it’s pronounced _staġfarrallā(hul-cazīm_).


Thanks! Why the ضمة at the end of the word الله though? It’s not مرفوع, I think.


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## WadiH

Ali Smith said:


> How did صل على النبي come to mean “Calm down.”? I mean, it literally means “Pray on the prophet.”, right?



Who knows.  Maybe because a Muslim cannot ignore the Prophet's name and must say the prayer, and that forces an angry or agitated person to stop and take a step back.

لا إله إلا الله is used in a similar way (so you would say قل لا إله إلا الله), but ironically لا إله إلا الله is also used to express frustration, so a frustrated person would exclaim لا إله إلا الله! The phrase أستغفر الله العظيم is used in a similar way to express frustration.



> Thanks! Why the ضمة at the end of the word الله though? It’s not مرفوع, I think.



I think that was a mistake.  Usually it's a _fatha _or short schwa_._


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## Ali Smith

normordm said:


> What you're hearing is صلِ على النبي which basically means "say peace be upon the prophet" , but it's used as calm down. It's one of those expressions with ties to Islam.


Can't صلّى على النبي literally mean "Beg/pray for forgiveness for the Prophet Muhammad"?

صَلّى can mean "to beg/pray for forgiveness for [someone]", as in:

إذا مِتْنا صَلّى لَنا عُثْمانُ بْنُ مَظْعُوْنٍ
When we die, Uthman bin Maz'un will pray for forgiveness for us.


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## Mahaodeh

Ali Smith said:


> Can't صلّى على النبي literally mean "Beg/pray for forgiveness for the Prophet Muhammad"?


It’s understood as “قل: صلّى الله على النبي". It doesn’t matter what it could mean, what matters is what is meant and how everyone understands it. That’s how language works, isn’t it?


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## WadiH

The structures are not the same, anyway.  One is صلّى على and the other is صلّى لـ.


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