# Christians in Arabic-speaking countries



## panjabigator

There are some phrases in India which denote a Muslim.  Examples:

Masha'allah-glory be to God (thank God?)
Insha'allah-God willing
Aa salaamu aleikam-greeting/peace be upon you
Khuda hafiz-good protect you  (strictly south Asia and Iran/Afghanistan)

And then some other longer ones like:
Lauhaul vale quwatta illa billa (sorry if I butchered that...I do not know a good translation for this one)
and then the one that follows the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh).  What is it in Arabic again?

Anyway, are these phrases used by Christian Arabic speakers in other countries?


----------



## elroy

Hi, Panja.

I am answering your questions based on my experience as a Christian Arab (Palestinian).


panjabigator said:


> *(1)* Masha'allah-glory be to God (thank God?) literally, "what God wants."
> *(2)* Insha'allah-God willing
> *(3)* Aa salaamu aleikam-greeting/peace be upon you  but less frequently than other greetings
> *(4)* Khuda hafiz-good protect you (strictly south Asia and Iran/Afghanistan) This is not Arabic.
> *(5)* Lauhaul vale quwatta illa billa (sorry if I butchered that...I do not know a good translation for this one) This is not Arabic.
> *(6)* and then the one that follows the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). What is it in Arabic again? Salla 'l-laahu 'alayhi wa sallam  No, never.


 
(1), (2), and (3) contain no explicit references to Islam and so are used by all Arabs (even though they may have originally been used only by Moslems).  The word "Allah," found in (1) and (2) simply means "God" in Arabic and is used to refer to the Christian God as well as the Moslem God.  (3) does not contain any religious references whatsoever.

(4) and (5) are not Arabic so they are not used.

(6) is used exclusively after the name of Mohammad, in an extolment of him that is not in tune with the Christian belief.


----------



## abusaf

The fifth one is لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله


على فكرة
When I was in Egypt I met a couple of Christian Arabs who used to say: حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل which is a more specific Muslim phrase (more than InshaAllah for example), so it's more a cultural thing I would assume.


----------



## elroy

Oops - I did not quite get that because of the transliteration (sorry, Panja!). 

We do use that one, as well as the other one you mentioned, Abusaf.  Again, neither of these contains an explicit reference to Islam.


----------



## panjabigator

No problem elroy!  Thanks for the input!


----------



## spakh

Hi, elroy and panjabigator
I have no Arabian unfortunately but I can say that;
"Laulhaul vale quwatta illa billa" is to be 'La hawla ve la quwwata illa billah' and it means 'The (hawla) and power are only with Allah'
I couldn't translate 'hawla'


----------



## zooz

elroy said:


> Again, neither of these contains an explicit reference to Islam.



In my opinion they do. While it's not clear if they were used before the Islamic epoch or not, numerous phrases are mentioned in sayings of the prophet Mohammad PUH as some sort of commandments for the muslim's daily life. Nowadays they're looked at as mere everyday sayings rather than religious ones. 

Through the long history and the coexistence between the two religions, Christians Arabs have borrowed some phrases which were deemed as Islamic ones and became a part of the daily speech, and vice versa. That would be my answer to your question, panjabigator. Moreover, this social interchange extends even to individual habits and society customs.

Even though my point might regard the Levant in particular, I believe it's the same case in many Arabian countires where the Christians have a major presence.


----------



## elroy

zooz said:


> In my opinion they do. While it's not clear if they were used before the Islamic epoch or not, numerous phrases are mentioned in sayings of the prophet Mohammad PUH as some sort of commandments for the muslim's daily life. Nowadays they're looked at as mere everyday sayings rather than religious ones.


 What I meant was that these phrases, taken out of their historical context, do not refer to Islam explicitly (emphasis on "explicitly").  I do not deny their connection with Islam, but that connection is not apparent to the untrained ear; thus, there was nothing to stop Christian Arabs from using them in everyday, non-religious contexts.

Such is not the case with صلى الله عليه وسلم, which, as I stated above, is always used after the name محمد, making it an explicit reference to Islam.


----------



## panjabigator

However, Muslims do say something similar after saying Jesus's/Issai's name, correct?


----------



## elroy

They say عليه السلام (3alayhi 's-salaam).


----------



## suma

I've read in Arab Christian folk literature after the name of Mary, they say
تبارك ثمرة بطنها  
which I thought was an interesting bit of cultural linguistics when I first saw it.
Also I notice that Christian Arabs use less often the salaam alaikum greeting, prefering more often instead to say
صباح الخير 
even in Jerusalem I heard a jewish woman speaking Hebrew say something very close to الحمد لله الرحمان الرحيم


----------



## elroy

suma said:


> Also I notice that Christian Arabs use less often the salaam alaikum greeting, prefering more often instead to say
> صباح الخير


 If it's the morning, yes.  Otherwise, we say مسا الخير (if it's the evening) or مرحبا (any time of day).


> even in Jerusalem I heard a jewish woman speaking Hebrew say something very close to الحمد لله الرحمان الرحيم


 Now _that_ surprises me!  الرحمن الرحيم is a very Moslem phrase that is not used by Christian Arabs (let alone Jews), so it would be quite strange indeed for a Jew to use it while speaking in Hebrew!


----------



## MarcB

Here is a site from a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt with Arabic lessons. It should answer your questions.
Just as the other sayings may not be limited this expression فـرصـة سـعيدة is used by all Arabs but seems to be used a lot by Christians as a greeting.


----------



## cherine

فرصة سعيدة is not a greeting (not like Hi, good morning...), it's used when we meet someone for the first time (like "nice to meet you", or the Spanish "encantado/a").
And it's used by Muslims and Christians equally (i.e it has nothing to do with religion)


----------



## MarcB

cherine said:


> فرصة سعيدة is not a greeting (not like Hi, good morning...), it's used when we meet someone for the first time (like "nice to meet you", or the Spanish "encantado/a").
> And it's used by Muslims and Christians equally (i.e it has nothing to do with religion)


Cherine thanks for your clarification. I said it is neither Muslim nor Christian but in my experience I have heard it a lot by the latter which may not be the same for everyone. Although it is not like hi, imho it is a type of greeting.


----------



## elroy

I wouldn't consider it a greeting either, but I guess that's irrelevant here and depends on what you understand as a "greeting."

Anyway, I have not noticed any striking differences between the percentage of Christians and Moslems that use this expression.


----------



## suma

elroy said:


> If it's the morning, yes.  Otherwise, we say مسا الخير (if it's the evening) or مرحبا (any time of day).
> Now _that_ surprises me!  الرحمن الرحيم is a very Moslem phrase that is not used by Christian Arabs (let alone Jews), so it would be quite strange indeed for a Jew to use it while speaking in Hebrew!



Yeah this woman was a kind of tour bus guide, working a route from Egypt to Jerusalem. The bus was full of mostly western tourists coming from Egypt and a handful of Egyptians, so I guess she was trying to "break the ice" so to speak as we crossed into Israel by using a Hebrew expression that was strikingly similar to something Arabic.

As I try to remember, maybe she was actually speaking what little Arabic she was familiar with, and due to her Hebrew accent it came out sounding more like Hebrew than Arabic (her 7a sounded like kha for one thing)


----------



## elroy

Whatever it was, it sounds like it was an unusual incident that doesn't say much about nation-wide tendencies.


----------



## SofiaB

It seems in the current time the spoken differences between the different religions is minimal if at all. As Zooz mentioned there were some in the past. Here is an analysis of some religious variants in Iraq; they deal more with speech rather than greetings or phrases. Also in Bahrain there are differences between Sunni and Shia speech patterns.
As Panjabigator suggests in non-Arabic countries many Arabic phrases are associated with Muslims.


----------



## clevermizo

elroy said:


> If it's the morning, yes.  Otherwise, we say مسا الخير (if it's the evening) or مرحبا (any time of day).
> Now _that_ surprises me!  الرحمن الرحيم is a very Moslem phrase that is not used by Christian Arabs (let alone Jews), so it would be quite strange indeed for a Jew to use it while speaking in Hebrew!



ِJust browsing through old posts - for what it's worth, God in Judaism is very frequently referred to as ha-Rakhaman (the reflex of الرحمن), although the phrasing الرحمن الرحيم is very Muslim. There are many prayers that include with ha-Rakhaman, or Av Ha-Rachamim, all of which are very old. The meaning is also the same in Hebrew.


----------



## Nunty

suma said:


> Yeah this woman was a kind of tour bus guide, working a route from Egypt to Jerusalem. The bus was full of mostly western tourists coming from Egypt and a handful of Egyptians, so I guess she was trying to "break the ice" so to speak as we crossed into Israel by using a Hebrew expression that was strikingly similar to something Arabic.
> 
> As I try to remember, maybe she was actually speaking what little Arabic she was familiar with, and due to her Hebrew accent it came out sounding more like Hebrew than Arabic (her 7a sounded like kha for one thing)



I am embarrassed to admit it, but I can't read well enough to make out what the phrase we are talking about is. Would someone be kind enough to transliterate for me?

Thanks.


----------



## HKK

Nun-Translator said:


> I am embarrassed to admit it, but I can't read well enough to make out what the phrase we are talking about is. Would someone be kind enough to transliterate for me?
> 
> Thanks.



Al-7amdu lillah ar-ra7maan ar-ra7iim.


----------



## Nunty

Thanks, HKK.


I can attest that that is not at all similar to any phrase in Hebrew. The guide was probably jocularly using an Arabic phrase she had memorized. I know that when I (try to) speak Arabic people often sort of look at me long and hard and then reply in whatever language they think I was speaking in


----------

