Mashaa' Allah
ماشالله - شارع الحمرا، عمان
For many it's easy to take for granted the elegant structure and poetry of Arabic, but upon closer inspection, it truly is difficult not to appreciate its mellifluence. A great deal of the time, it is difficult to untangle the religious influence as it and the language are so deeply intertwined.
Mashaa' Allah - a phrase I heard in the least once a day growing up. It means "God willed it" and basically implies that everything happens because of God, and that it should be and is appreciated. It can be used in infinite contexts: when someone has a baby, when someone graduates, when an animal is spotted, when the sun rises - the possibilities are endless. I find myself using it often, either because it's the right phrase to use in the moment or because it's out of respect for the person in front of me.
As beautiful as it may sound and mean, my problem with this phrase (among many other religious phrases) is that it takes away agency from the person who uses it, where agency is defined in anthropological texts as the freedom and intentionality of choice. Those who argue for religion will often claim that it actually provides them with purity and control, which has made me ponder how much of the control we feel is illusion and how much is true control.
The problem with this loss of agency is the relinquishment of power. Attributing an event to "God's will" implies that there is nothing anyone could have done to influence an alternate outcome. If only used when referring to situations that are ultimately beyond our control, I don't think a blog post would have been necessary, but the matter of the fact is, this type of ideology can easily find its way into our everyday lives.
A close friend recently pointed out that the meaning of this phrase may be more nuanced. He suggested I see it as God has provided a person with the innate characteristics and skills to accomplish something, rather than seeing as God is responsible for what was accomplished. This lightened my thoughts around this topic, as it is true that most if not all the greats of our lifetime stood on the shoulders of giants.
Disclaimer: this post is no way meant to offend, but is rather a personal outlet to organize my thoughts around a religion I was raised with.
