In the Name of Allah: Reverence Phrases in Arabic1

Until February of 2006, Yahoo.com would not permit user names containing the word Allah. In a written statement and in interviews, the eminent internet corporation maintained that their purpose in limiting such names was due to “[a] small number of people [who] registered for IDs using specific terms with the sole purpose of promoting hate.” Upon request and reflection, they have rescinded that ban, and now Yahoo users can be found under the name of Allah, just as they can for God, Jesus, Buddha, and other divine luminaries. This move brings the internet into line with other sources, published materials, programs, flags, songs, and poetry that use Allah out of reverence and devotion. And so it has been for nearly fifteen centuries, when the first suggestion was made to use words and phrases acknowledging Allah.

Within the Qur’an itself, the holy book of all Muslims, an extensive variety of verses charges true believers to always honor and exalt Allah in all of their speech and actions. So pronounced is this habit of Arabic speakers that the phrase Insha’ Allah, for example, meaning “If Allah wills it,” is recognized world-wide as a caveat within any statement regarding future events. “We will leave for vacation on Friday, Insha’ Allah,” comments the contented employee. In this case, the vacation is planned for Friday, reservations have been made, the car gassed up, and the time allotted by the employer. Yet, the Arabic-speaking Muslim and non-Muslim alike assert that all of that preparation will be for naught, should Allah determine something else will occur. Insha’ Allah is not, as many Westerners believe, a fatalistic fail-safe through which people can escape responsibility. Rather, it is an acknowledgement of the ultimate arbiter of what will and won’t happen on earth and in the heavens.

Anyone who has lived in the Arab world has an anecdote of the American or European supervisor reminding a Muslim employee to have the report ready by 2:00 pm tomorrow or to be sure to arrive at the conference site three hours early or to complete the data entry by the end of work today. In every case, the Muslim replies “Insha’ Allah,” and the supervisor, mentally pulling at his hair, insists, “No, I really mean it.” “Of course,” replies the employee, “Insha Allah it will be so.” The supervisor is left thinking the employee has just manufactured a divine excuse to avoid an obligation, while the employee believes he has just made a firm commitment to complete the task at hand. And Insha’ Allah is merely one example of how Arabic is flowered with references to Allah, whether via a phrase of thanks, an exhortation for assistance, or an acknowledgement of divine capacity.

To call words from this Allah Lexicon pervasive in Arabic is to underestimate their power and presence in the life of Arabic-speaking Muslims. So embedded are they that you will find them adorning flags, as in the case of the Saudi Arabian flag, government stationary, and embroidered decorations and plaques for the home. News anchors in many Middle Eastern and North African locations begin their reports with a reference to Allah, as do speech makers. Song writers and performers invoke some of the ninety-nine names of Allah repeatedly in both classical and popular verse. Poets and novelists such as Albert Camus invest their words with allusions to the deity.

Studies have demonstrated that native-Arabic speaking Muslims and non-Muslims may use one or another of these phrases dozens of times every day: before eating, after eating, when greeting someone or bidding them goodbye, when washing, before praying, during a business transaction, when expressing sympathy or condolences, when making plans, in the face of victory or disaster, and before sleeping, to name just a few general areas of usage.

So intertwined is this bonding that Arabic is considered a holy language, a language through which divine lessons and concepts were originally disseminated and interpreted. This assertion rests on the fact that the Qur’an was delivered to the Prophet Muhammad in Arabic and that it was put to paper in that language as well. Therefore, the words of the Qur’an and the language that served as vehicle are partners, inseparable.

Yet, Westerners, exemplified by secular-is-sacred France and in the U.S., are suspicious of this collection of religious phrases, believing that discourse ought to have separate arenas for religious speech and everyday speech. To further this philosophy, France is developing a variety of programs wherein public-school instructors will teach Arabic to students of Middle Eastern and North African descent but without the body of language that performs courtesies, queries, and makes statements through the use of phrases such as Masha’ Allah, Bismillah, Alhamdulillah, Allahu ‘alam, Wa Allah, and hundreds of others. This is akin to teaching English and leaving out all references to sports. The learner would have a language gap around all things baseball: “up to bat,” “first base,” “home run,” “team,” and “three outs” would be just that, out. University leaders in France support this secularist view, suggesting that devotion to Islam should be expressed in France differently than it would be back home, wherever that might be.

Just as French schools do not allow young Muslim women to show modesty by wearing a head-scarf to class neither do their Arabic instructors reveal the treasure of tradition and culture that lie within the Allah Lexicon. To acquire this deeper level of language, students must go to a specialized Arabic institute or an Arabic course attached to a mosque. This last option is one which the French government is trying to avoid, since learning Arabic under the auspices of the neighborhood imam serves to cement the relationship between Arabic and Islam.

In the U.S., when a Muslim student quietly asked God’s grace before giving a speech in her college class, she was reprimanded by her instructor. In another situation where Arabic itself was found guilty, Dr. Teresa Whitehurst reported on a multicultural-week event in an East coast high school. All week long, the Pledge of Allegiance was recited in different languages by a cross-section of students.

One day, the pledge was given in Spanish, and dozens of voices were raised in unison. Another day, they intoned the pledge in French. However, the day a student group began to give the pledge in Arabic, protests loud, long, and focused, arose among the same students who had chorused the verse boldly on every other day. Somehow, placing loyalty to the flag in the same context as the Arabic language, and including a phrase reflecting devotion to Allah, had become anathema. For the students in that school, Arabic was viewed as an unworthy vehicle for the Pledge of Allegiance.

This attitude of intolerance toward the Arabic language and its inherent religious speech has resulted in the diminution of use of such phrases by Arabic-speaking Muslims living in the U.S. In statements to researchers, Arabic speakers state that there is no linguistic frame or acceptance of this usage in English, nor a level of conversational safety in which Allahu Akbar, Subhana Allah, or Fi amanillah could be inserted.

To ask a Muslim to forego the words which tie his or her life to Islam, Muhammad, and the Qur’an is to ask them to breach the dictates of their religion, heritage, and linguistic custom. Where English, French, German, or Chinese all have individualized speech act phrases or required vocabulary for utilization in polite society, only in Arabic is God, or Allah, the center of many of these linguistic functions. Indeed, through an extensive study of the language corpora of over a dozen languages, scholars have determined that reference to God occurs more often in Arabic than in any other major language.

This preeminence of the Arabic word for God within the language arose along with the birth of Islam itself. Arabic scholars have long known that even as the Prophet Muhammad delivered the word of God to the people, he asserted a need for a change in the language to match the new divine revelations. A whole new category of phrasing and word usage evolved even as the teachings were being dispensed and Islam was promulgated among the peoples of the sands and beyond.

Words that formerly served to honor pagan gods or man’s achievements were eradicated in favor of a new lexicon of words and phrases that bespoke the omniscience, omnipresence, and limitless power of God. Muhammad’s call for new terminology mirrored the word of Allah. Within the Qur’an and the Hadith there exists an extensive selection of verses and statements which encourage believers to honor Allah in all areas of their life. In the Qur’an, Allah says:

“O you who believe! Remember Allah abundantly” (37:75).

In the Hadith, the Prophet Muhammad says: “For everything there is a polish and the polish for hearts is the remembrance of Allah” (Bukhari). Every utterance of these phrases brings the believer closer to God, and, it is to be hoped, closer to an adherence to God’s law.

So intertwined is the bonding between religion, language and word, that Arabic is considered a holy language, a language through which divine lessons and concepts were originally disseminated and interpreted. The Qur’an was delivered to the Prophet Muhammad in Arabic, and its chapters were put to paper in that language as well. Therefore, the words of the Qur’an and the language that served as its vehicle are immutable partners.

Yet, in English language culture there is little tolerance and less linguistic space for the lexical collection that allows Arabic-speaking Muslims to express their caring, piety, and compassion in conversation. When asked if she ever said Insha’ Allah aloud in English, a young Arab school-girl in southeast Ohio responded, “Oh, no, I just whisper it to myself.” Millions of immigrants find themselves in the same position. How can they avoid the tension which comes from even uttering words in Arabic while maintaining their intimate connection to God and Islam?

More and more, as Arabic speakers try to live in America, among people who consider “Arabs” and “Muslims” as “terrorists,” the rich expressions from the Allah Lexicon are disappearing from their speech, and with them, a profound connection to the spiritual. Surely, this is a dilemma which demands the attention, and wisdom, of Solomon.

• 1. This article, which was co-authored by Barbara Castleton, was previously published in Islamic Horizons (November/December 2009): 54-55.