A Primer on All Those Funny-Sounding Arabic Words

A primer for everyone who wants to know: What are all those doggone foreign-sounding words Nancy keeps using?

Even non-Arab Muslims tend to sprinkle their conversations with Arabic words. It’s easier to say “iftaar” rather than “that meal we break our fast with when the sun goes down”. After a while, we do it unconsciously and may accidentally use the Arabic words around our non-Muslim family, friends, or co-workers.

“Hey, Sally, InshaAllah (God willing) I’m going to the beach this weekend, wanna come?” And Sally is thinking, I’m not Sally InshaAllah, I’m Sally Jones! So here is a translation for some of the most common words I use when I’m posting on Facebook or writing a blog post:

As Salaamu Alaikum = Peace be upon you. Standard greeting among Muslims.

InshaAllah = If God wills. It’s a way of saying, “I’m PLANNING on doing XYZ, but God might have other ideas”. Many Muslims use this as a copout phrase. “InshaAllah I’ll be at the park today”, when they have no intention of going. I call foul on this usage!

MashaAllah = by the permission or will of God. If someone says, “Ah, your kid is adorable!”, I’m tempted to say “Yeah, I know right? She totally takes after her mother”. But I say, mashaAllah, which is a way of reminding me that God made her in that lovely form and it’s not something that I did or can take credit for (though I do have to say the mix of Arab and English / German genes makes for some cute kids – mashaAllah!)

Allahu Akbar / Subhan Allah / Alhamdulillah = God is Greater / Praise be to God / Glory be to God. We say these when we see something amazing or awe-inspiring or even sad or tragic.

“SubhanAllah, did you see that tornado damage? Alhamdulillah that no one was hurt. Ah, and the school was undamaged, Allahu Akbar!”

Phrases that we use a lot in Ramadan (which is the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, where we fast during the day for the whole month). Suhoor = the meal we take in the morning before we begin fasting. Iftaar = the meal we take directly after sunset to break our fast. Tarawih = extra prayers we make in the evening, at home or in the masjid, during Ramadan. Masjid = place of prostration, which is the common name for an Islamic house of worship.

Now, I left the best for last, and that is Allah. Allah is THE primary Name by which God calls Himself in the Qur’an, our Scripture. It means “THE God, other than which there is no god”. And it is not exclusive to Islam. Arabic-speaking Christians call God Allah as well. If you open up a Bible in Egypt you will see Allah on every page. It is a misnomer to consider Allah to be a tribal or “moon god”, as Islamophobes sometimes claim. We consider Allah to be the same God who created Adam and Eve, who told Noah to build the ark, and who gave the Torah to Moses and the Gospel to Jesus, peace be upon them all.

I hope this little primer has been helpful. Please feel free to ask me if anything I write about is unclear or confusing. The beauty of Islam is that it was revealed in the full light of history and it is accessible to all. There are no secret societies in Islam or private levels for initiates. The ivory-tower intellectual worships in the same manner as the illiterate peasant. The information is there and I’m happy to be a proctor for you if you need help finding anything out.