Yesterday BBC published a very interesting opinion piece from Princess Basma Bint Saud Bin Abdulaziz - the youngest daughter of the Saudi Arabia's second king and niece to its current ruler: Saudi princess: What I'd change about my country Definitively worth a read!
Apr 7, 2012
More Inshallahs...
Our recent trip to a scuba diving paradise resulted in an ear infection for K. Back in Riyadh, K had a chance to go see no less than three doctors because of the infection. What an interesting experience… all doctors were men and had Philipina nurses doing all the practical work for them. Every diagnosis ended with “inshallah” so it was something along the lines of “in a few days it should get better, inshallah”. When the ear did get better it was of course “the infection has cleared up, hamdullah”.
Apr 5, 2012
Inshallah and Hamdullah
The above are the two phrases you can’t avoid hearing quite often here in the Arabic speaking world. If you want to sound like an Arab just start using them all the time in any context. We are told that inshallah can be loosely translated as “if god is willing” and hamdullah as “thanks to god”.
Not sure how to use these phrases? No worries, it’s easy. Just throw in inshallah when ever you want… and especially when you are making a promise that you have no intention to keep. Some examples: “Yes boss, inshallah I will make it to the nine o’clock meeting” or “we will be able to meet the project deadline inshallah” or “I will call you in a few hours inshallah”. Also, it’s useful for anything that you feel is out of you immediate control when it actually isn’t, like “this plane will land in Riyadh at 8PM inshallah” (that gets to you every time the captain announces it) or “inshallah she will do very well in this week’s spelling test” (it’s not like her practicing for the test will do anything to help, right?).
As for hamdullah… you can throw it in whenever you want. Some examples: “hamdullah she has learnt to read” (yeah it’s not like practicing had anything to do with it) or “hamdullah we have landed at Riyadh airport”.
Until next time… inshallah.
Not sure how to use these phrases? No worries, it’s easy. Just throw in inshallah when ever you want… and especially when you are making a promise that you have no intention to keep. Some examples: “Yes boss, inshallah I will make it to the nine o’clock meeting” or “we will be able to meet the project deadline inshallah” or “I will call you in a few hours inshallah”. Also, it’s useful for anything that you feel is out of you immediate control when it actually isn’t, like “this plane will land in Riyadh at 8PM inshallah” (that gets to you every time the captain announces it) or “inshallah she will do very well in this week’s spelling test” (it’s not like her practicing for the test will do anything to help, right?).
As for hamdullah… you can throw it in whenever you want. Some examples: “hamdullah she has learnt to read” (yeah it’s not like practicing had anything to do with it) or “hamdullah we have landed at Riyadh airport”.
Until next time… inshallah.
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