You're viewing the defcon.social public feed.

Federated feed Local feed

Qasim Rashid, Esq.QasimRashid@mastodon.social
Apr 22, 2026, 4:40 PM
Anne Hathaway said inshaAllah in an interview. No explanation. No footnote. No self-conscious pause. Just a word used correctly, naturally, in a moment of genuine hope.
Not Muslim and wondering if you can say it too? The answer is an enthusiastic yes. Christians say "Lord willing." Jews say im yirtzeh Hashem. And the Spanish word ojalá comes directly from inshaAllah.
The words we share across cultures aren't walls. They're doors.
https://lets-address-this-with-qasim-rashid.ghost.io/anne-hathaway-said-inshaallah-and-it-was-perfect/
💬 18🔄 41⭐ 0

Replies

KrazovKrazov@mstdn.social
Apr 22, 2026, 4:41 PM
@QasimRashid I use it regularly. Though, not in Spanish, as there is a local variant.
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
TwotiredTwotired@universeodon.com
Apr 22, 2026, 4:59 PM
@QasimRashid My understanding is that Allah is not even a uniquely Muslim word, it’s just the Arabic word for God. I am told that Arabic-speaking Christians worship Allah, for example.
💬 1🔄 0⭐ 3
DB Schweindeirdrebeth@mas.to
Apr 22, 2026, 6:16 PM
@Twotired
Yup. All the Abrahamic religions worship the same god - it's mostly the prophets they argue about 😃
@QasimRashid
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
George Bgbargoud@masto.nyc
Apr 22, 2026, 6:56 PM
@Twotired @QasimRashid
Having gone to Arabic speaking churches for large parts of my childhood I can definitively say this is correct.
Arabic speaking Christians also say InShaAllah regularly since it just means "God willing"
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 3
ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESbenroyce@mastodon.social
Apr 22, 2026, 9:20 PM
@gbargoud @Twotired @QasimRashid
truly
it's not a religious topic it's a language/ culture topic
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
KimQueenOfTheCroneAge@beige.party
Apr 22, 2026, 5:00 PM
@QasimRashid
I've been going around saying inshaAllah since watching Magnificent Century.
Plus it pisses off my MAGA brother.
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
AccordionBruceAccordionBruce@mastodon.social
Apr 22, 2026, 5:09 PM
@QasimRashid
Ojalá is how they taught us the subjunctive in Spanish
Something we largely don’t use in English
A doorway to the poetry of “I’m not sure what will happen in the future”
Maybe English speakers suffer for lack of that uncertainty?
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
opny721opny721@mastodon.uno
Apr 22, 2026, 5:16 PM
@QasimRashid a dio piacendo
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
LevkaLevZadov@kolektiva.social
Apr 22, 2026, 5:32 PM
@QasimRashid
My Appalachian grandma used to say, “If the Lord be willing and the creek don’t rise."
💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
DNA scheduleryanprior@mastodon.social
Apr 22, 2026, 7:09 PM
@LevZadov @QasimRashid my dad's family in Southern Illinois say the same.
💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
LevkaLevZadov@kolektiva.social
Apr 23, 2026, 12:02 AM
@ryanprior @QasimRashid
How do they pronounce *creek*, with a long e or a short i?
💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
DNA scheduleryanprior@mastodon.social
Apr 23, 2026, 12:08 AM
@LevZadov @QasimRashid they say it like "lord willin' an' the crick don't rise" with a short i. One of my aunts when she was a girl was caught halfway across the creek on the way to school one morning when a flash flood hit, and she was found hours later clinging to the top of the highest boulder singing hymns at the top of her lungs. I sometimes think of that story when I hear that phrase.
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
fan boy 🪭notyourfanboy@kolektiva.social
Apr 22, 2026, 5:35 PM
@QasimRashid
Or, ... just skip over referring to any invisible sky Daddys.
💬 1🔄 1⭐ 0
ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESbenroyce@mastodon.social
Apr 22, 2026, 9:19 PM
@notyourfanboy @QasimRashid
i mean if someone sneezes and i say "god bless you" i'm not engaging in theological debate
on casual and cultural issues it's not a big deal
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
ᴺⁱˡᶻ 🍸nilz@norden.social
Apr 22, 2026, 5:42 PM
@QasimRashid
Or, you can just not say anything like that, if you aren't superstitious and believe neither in one god, nor in another, nor in any god at all 🤷‍♂️
💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESbenroyce@mastodon.social
Apr 22, 2026, 9:16 PM
@nilz @QasimRashid
it's just cultural and casual, it's not an academic issue
the problem is zealotry. whether theistic or atheistic
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESbenroyce@mastodon.social
Apr 22, 2026, 5:44 PM
@QasimRashid
there's also "salamat" (thank you) in tagalog/ filipino, cebuano/ visayan, etc
although in arabic it means "get well" or "be safe"
people afraid of arabic loanwords are idiots
don't tell them about alcohol, algebra, alchemy, algorithm, almanac, alkali, etc.
thank you, salamat, islamic golden age
💬 1🔄 2⭐ 0
Charo del Genioparaw@mathstodon.xyz
Apr 23, 2026, 4:23 AM
@benroyce @QasimRashid may I add one? In Neapolitan, which is the local language spoken in the area around Naples, in Italy, the word for a very respectful greeting is "salamallecc".
💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESbenroyce@mastodon.social
Apr 23, 2026, 12:10 PM
@paraw @QasimRashid
and a salamallecc to you Charo!
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
lemgandilemgandi@mastodon.social
Apr 22, 2026, 5:47 PM
@QasimRashid
And American schools are teaching kids ARABIC NUMERALS!!!!111!!
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
Marcus ReynoldsMarcusMASTO@mas.to
Apr 22, 2026, 6:44 PM
@QasimRashid
Deo volente
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
Advanced Persistent Teapothttp_error_418@hachyderm.io
Apr 22, 2026, 7:00 PM
@QasimRashid imo the most beautiful greeting invented is "salaam aleikum" and I am working on the confidence to use it as easily as she said that one
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
jabsonikjabsonik@ihan.outo.la
Apr 22, 2026, 7:23 PM
@QasimRashid I picked inshaAllah from a Moroccan friend of mine, and I’ve been using it somewhat casually for years now. It’s kinda catchy! :)
(I’m not a muslim – but he’s not one either, mind you.)
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
tinkeltinkel@mastodon.social
Apr 22, 2026, 7:38 PM
@QasimRashid
We atheists have similar: "Weather permitting."
💬 0🔄 1⭐ 0
Flaming CheetoPizzaDemon@mastodon.online
Apr 22, 2026, 8:08 PM
@QasimRashid also, "By my Bubbie's kugel! It shall pass!"
Feel free to use
In reality, it took the whole weekend for Bubbie's kugel to pass but poetic license.
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
rcostarcosta@archaeo.social
Apr 22, 2026, 8:18 PM
@QasimRashid Not only in Spanish, as AccordionBruce mentioned. The word 'oxalá' also exists in Portuguese. The same meaning, the same origin. In English phonetics something like 'oh-sha-lah'.
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
wrath0110wrath0110@mastodon.social
Apr 22, 2026, 11:57 PM
@QasimRashid There's no need to invoke deities, or engage in polite religious equivalency, ever.
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
Tim Richardstimrichards@aus.social
Apr 23, 2026, 12:27 AM
@QasimRashid @FantasticalEconomics I lived in Cairo for two years in the '90s, and we picked up the locals' habit of saying "insha'Allah" whenever making engagements or statements about the future. Just seemed natural in that context. Cc @NarrelleMHarris
💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0