# إن شاء الله incha'Allah / inshallah



## john_riemann_soong

I've seen this in the context of several French songs, from rap pieces to pop material. Naturally it's from Arabic "insha'allah" ("God willing") to bless a future hope, but it seems to have an extended concept within the French music scene at least. This makes me suspect that perhaps it's not merely used by Francophone Muslims. 

For the last thing, is there a difference between "inch'allah" and "incha'allah"? I've seen it written both ways Frenchwise. Francophones seem to keep the "in" part (e.g. it's not turned into a nasal) but they don't seem to redouble the /aa/ vowel. Anyway.


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## jann

Good evening, John

Indeed, so common is this expression, and so peppered with it is the spoken Arabic language, that I have heard a middle eastern specialist translate this word from everyday speech as "maybe."   I am not in a position to answer you whether or not there is any "extended concept"  specific to the French music scene, but the extension is already very large.


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## fahad_francais

This word is use by the Muslims.


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## linguist786

The proper Arabic pronunication is _in-shaa-allaah_ (إن شاء الله). However, it is so widely used (not only by the Muslims I, but by all non-Muslim Arabs too I believe) that a lot of people have let their own tongues influence it, hence butchering the pronunciation somewhat. 

My family, for example, (not Arabs, but Muslims) say "inshaallaah", ignoring the hamzah, and the long a in "allaah" is pronounced with an empty mouth (like the a in apple).

So I would imagine that all Muslims around the world have their own way of saying it.

See also this thread and this one.


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## MarcB

Just to add to linguists comments the second pronunciation is colloquial Arabic and said by non-arab muslims aswell as non-muslims.


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## mansio

linguist786 said:


> The proper Arabic pronunication is _in-shaa-allaah_ (إن شاء الله).


 
Where is the hamza in your transliteration? Is it dropped from the pronunciation?

I think the phrase means in=if, shaa'a=has willed, and Allaah.

If you put that together it becomes "in shaa'a llaah". The unstable hamza of Allaah disappears because of the last "a" of "shaa'a".

It is perfectly possible that the hamza is dropped from colloquial pronunciation, so it would become like your transliteration.

By the way, how is hamza (=a sting) written in Arabic, I can't find it in the dictionary?


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## lizparcoeur

You are right, in France it is used very often, even by non-Muslims.
Some people know it means "si Dieu le veut", some people just thin it means "maybe", well we can assume that if something happens with the willing of God, it means it can happen, and it can not happen, so it MAY happen... (it's my interpretation )

As for the prununciation, some say "inchallah", others says inchaa Allah", it depends on how concerned about Arabic prununciation they are.


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## Tariq_Ibn_zyad

It's common in France due to the very important north african community,especially Algerians.
Some French words and expression directly come form Algerian Colloquial Arabic
ex: Kif-Kif= it's the same thing
     Macache(old,mostly used by pied-noirs) from "ma kash" contraction of "ma kayensh"=there isn't
  Kawa= from "qahwa"=coffee

Concerning In sha' allah,it's transcription "inch'allah" comes from north african pronounciation which can be "(i)nshallah,(i)nshaalah or even (i)nsha3llah"

Note that French uses "ch" instead of "sh",as well as North Africans when they write with latin characters--->inch'allah


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## Hibou57

jann said:


> that I have heard a middle eastern specialist translate this word from everyday speech as "maybe."


I know this interpretation, which is an irony I really don't like  I suspect it to come from ma3rib


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## linguist786

mansio said:


> Where is the hamza in your transliteration? Is it dropped from the pronunciation?


Here, in red: _in-shaa-allah._ 
You were right though, the hamzah belongs to the "shaa2a" rather than "allaah", so I should have written:
_in-shaa2a-llaah._
The alif in الله has hamzat al-waSl.


> I think the phrase means in=if, shaa'a=has willed, and Allaah.


Precisely


> If you put that together it becomes "in shaa'a llaah". The unstable hamza of Allaah disappears because of the last "a" of "shaa'a".


Yes exactly. (As I have just explained above^)


> It is perfectly possible that the hamza is dropped from colloquial pronunciation, so it would become like your transliteration.


Yes, that's very common. In fact, I would guess that the pronunciation without the hamzah is more common in speech than the strict pronunciation.



> Btw, how is hamza (=a sting) written in Arabic, I can't find it in the dictionary?


I don't think I understood that  (sting?). The letter hamzah (which is also a Muslim name) is written thus: همزة, if that's what you were asking.


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## cherine

mansio said:


> By the way, how is hamza (=a sting) written in Arabic, I can't find it in the dictionary?


Hamza, in  the dictionary, is the letter alif, which is also known as "hamza". 


linguist786 said:


> The letter hamzah (which is also a Muslim name) is written thus: همزة, if that's what you were asking.


The Muslim name is 7amza حمزة not Hamza همزة . 

*Moderator note :*
*Please everyone, before starting a new thread, do a search in the forum, to avoid having three threads about the same subject.*
*Thanks.*


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## elroy

mansio said:


> [...] I think the phrase means in=if, shaa'a=has willed, and Allaah.


 Just a small nit-pick.

The second part does not mean "has willed" but simply "wills." Arabic uses the ماضي in this context but the correct translation into English is the present tense.


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## john_riemann_soong

Tariq_Ibn_zyad said:


> It's common in France due to the very important north african community,especially Algerians.
> Some French words and expression directly come form Algerian Colloquial Arabic
> ex: Kif-Kif= it's the same thing
> Macache(old,mostly used by pied-noirs) from "ma kash" contraction of "ma kayensh"=there isn't
> Kawa= from "qahwa"=coffee


 

Ooh I know that one! In Malay there's kawan-kawan I believe, which means "buddy", but with connotations of a coffeeshop, which passes into Singlish as "drink coffee [in a coffeeshop] with your kawan-kawan". I suspect it's from Arabic.



cherine said:


> Hamza, in the dictionary, is the letter alif, which is also known as "hamza".
> 
> The Muslim name is 7amza حمزة not Hamza همزة .
> 
> *Moderator note :*
> *Please everyone, before starting a new thread, do a search in the forum, to avoid having three threads about the same subject.*
> *Thanks.*


 
I started my thread in the French forum, and it got moved! I wanted to know about this phrase in the French context specifically ...


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## cherine

Ok, I didn't know that. Yet, it's always helpful to do some search before opening a new thread. 


Note: The discussion about the name 7amza was moved to a new thread.


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## Beate

Hello,

from my point of view some expressions that at first sight may have a deep religious meaning like inshallah or alhamdulillah or bismillah are used so often and by all kind of people in North Africa that i presume that these expressions are more part of the spoken language than really a religious message.

I know a Rai' song (the north african rap is called Rai') where the text is a mixture of french and northafrican arabic là-bas je vais manger de la shorba et je vais rester à la cité inchallah et là je vais voir ma sheba etc.

By the way, inshallah took its way to portuguese an spanish. Oxalà and ojalà (which ist the hispanized form of inshallah) means hopefully. 
Bye Beate


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## Tariq_Ibn_zyad

Beate said:


> Hello,
> 
> from my point of view some expressions that at first sight may have a deep religious meaning like inshallah or alhamdulillah or bismillah are used so often and by all kind of people in North Africa that i presume that these expressions are more part of the spoken language than really a religious message.
> 
> I know a Rai' song (the north african rap is called Rai') where the text is a mixture of french and northafrican arabic là-bas je vais manger de la shorba et je vais rester à la cité inchallah et là je vais voir ma sheba etc.
> 
> By the way, inshallah took its way to portuguese an spanish. Oxalà and ojalà (which ist the hispanized form of inshallah) means hopefully.
> Bye Beate


Just to correct you,Rai is not what you are talking about,you mentionned french rap song,sung by an Algerian immigrant.
But what you said is correct.
In North African Arabic,these words "inshallah","7amdullah" are used by everyone,even non believers.There are just part of the language.North African Jews also use them.And as I said French picked up some of these because of Their important historical and cultural relations with Algeria,and because of the number of North Arfrican immigrants


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## clairdelune85

in faith? - the correct translation?


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## JackD

Do you mean "Inch'Allah" ???


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## clairdelune85

yes..that's it! what is this?


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## JackD

In arabic, it means "si Dieu le veut".


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## clairdelune85

merci mille fois!


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## jann

Hello Clairdelune85, 

Since your question is actually about the usage of an Arabic word in French, I have transferred it to an existing thread on the same topic in the Arabic forum.  You may wish to read through some of the posts above. 

Jann
Moderator


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## veryshy

This expression is originaly in the Qur'an. Its translation is( Ne dis jamais, à propos d'une chose;" je le fairai sûrement demain" sans ajouter;" si Dieu le veut").In classical Arabic it is readed or said in one and same way, but when it comes to pronunciation, there are many Arabic slangs !


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## shannenms

Persians have reduced it to *Ishalla*, still with the original meaning.


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## Staarkali

JackD said:


> In arabic, it means "si Dieu le veut".


I confirm in French, we use it with that meaning, which is, according to the natives' posts of the current thread, the original meaning.

About the transcription, it justs as if you say the name of Maggie Cheung (the HK movie star) is spelled incorrectly, it should be Maggie Zhang (in correct pinyin). They are no correct transcription, except possibly, the one a sovereign state formerly adopt on its own.

Ongoing multi transcriptions includes (in French at least), Arabie Saoudite/ Arabie Séoudite, la Mecque/ la Mekke, Iraq/ Irak, etc.


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## Forero

The Spanish word "ojalá" is purportedly from Arabic, with the "j" sounding like "sh" in Old Spanish.  I always thought it meant "If God wills it", but can Arabic "if" sound like "wa" or "ma", or is it always "in"?


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## Mahaodeh

If can be translated to more than one word in Arabic, the most common is "in" and "law" (pronounced like the English word low).  If you use ma it would mean "whatever God wills" and if you use wa it would mean "...and God wills" - note that each is a different particle.

Ojala maybe a contraction of "law sha'a Allah"; but don't quote me, this is just quick guess.


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