| by Raymon Kondos CAIRO (youregypt.com)
- The impression that foreigners get when they start dealing with
Egyptians is that they are so kind, hospitable and helpful.
This is indeed a general fact, yet there are many details to elaborate
on this, and to learn more about those wonderful people.
Ancient Egyptians relied on the Nile for living,
and
plead gods to keep this blessing |
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Egyptians are religious people in general. They believe in God,
His will and His fate.
For Egyptians everything is linked to God's mercy and will, to
the level of total reliance and dependence, and the belief that
whatever happens, it is fatalism.
Such thing is implicitly and verbally expressed by the Egyptian
people in the lavishly used word inshallah, the Arabic term for
God Willing.
The word accompanies any talk about future intention
and frequently replaces the word yes in conversations.
Example:
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Are you traveling to Luxor tomorrow? |
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Inshallah |
This means: Yes, I decided so, but I don't know what does God
desire? If God approved it, I can go. If not, certainly something
would come up.
Another form of the word is also used, but this time to express
probability, shifting the final decision to the preordination of
God. The word is Iza sha' Allah or Iza
sha' rabbena, literally
meaning “If God wills.”
Example:
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Are you accompanying me next time? |
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Iza sha' rabbena. |
This means: If things worked fine with my plans, God will allow
me time and opportunity to do it. Still I am not sure yet.
Sometimes if someone spoke about future intention or action but forgot
to say inshallah, he may fine someone reminding him back “say inshallah!”
Example 1:
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When will you give me back my books? |
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Next week. |
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Say inshallah! |
In that example, the first speaker wanted to the drive the attention of
the second one that he can't return the book if God's will was otherwise.
After all no one knows what is predestined.
There is that very famous
story about Goha who went to the livestock market to buy a cow. On
his way there, he met some friends that asked him:
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Where are you going Goha? |
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To the market to buy a cow. |
| - |
Say inshallah. |
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Why should I? The money is in my pocket and the cow in the market. |
At the market, Goha's money was stolen by some pickpocket. Goha returned back
home in sadness. On his way back he was encountered by his very same friends.
They asked:
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Where is that cow that you bought Goha? |
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Inshallah inshallah the money was stolen inshallah inshallah. |
The story tells how much Goha had learnt the lesson to the degree that he
fervently decided to use the word even when mentioning an established fact.
Goha is a quick-witted but sometimes stupid folk character whose stories are
narrated to teach social lessons.
The story teaches that one should not only believe in God's will but also
has to verbally express that as a gratitude to the Almighty.
Though the word is interwoven with Islam,
the religion of the majority in Egypt , some sociologists believe Egypt
's history had its own hand in such
trait in the Egyptian character.
Ancient Egyptians settled around the Nile Valley since prehistory. Their daily
lives were dependable on the Nile waters. The fate of their lives depended
on the goddess of inundation, Satis , which they plead to bestow the worshippers
with abundance of water.
Successive divine religions did reinforce such conviction of the people.
If you want to approach Egyptians faster, use many inshallahs umpteen times.
That would leave a good impression and gets you closer to the Egyptian people.
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