One of the things we’re working on in the villages is trying to get people to make long-term plans. When we ask the villagers what kind of small scale infrastructure they would like in the next 6 months, often they’ll respond by “inch’allah, we may all die tomorrow.” Well, it’s one thing to live everyday as your last and do something cool, but to just sit around and smoke all day? Hmm…Anyway, this thinking was exacerbated by the tsunami because many people saw the natural disaster as God punishing the people of Aceh because they had done something to really piss off God. But this way of thinking is pretty pervasive. A couple of weeks ago, I was conducting a 6 months performance reviews for my local staff and I asked our young accountant where he saw his career going and what kind of things he’d like to pursue. His answer was “inch’allah, what ever God has planned for me.” I guess he wants to tape receipts and enter numbers into Excel all day for the rest of his life. And just the other day, I asked one of my staff if she wanted to join us for dinner. Her answer was “inch’allah.” It’s like, c’mon, what could God do to you between now and dinner time? She wasn’t struck by lighting, and came to dinner.
What’s the point of having goals and aspirations when everything is inch’allah?
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Insya Allah is a commonly-used phrase among many Muslims, and it means, If God Wills.
The idea is that they will do it - as / if God wills.
Unfortunately, this phrase is misused by many these days as you noted.
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