CAN CHRISTIANS SAY: "MASHALLAH"; "INSHALLAH"...?

2024-10-29 14:16:00, Opinione Miron Çako

Language is a means of communication for tribes and peoples, which evolves over time, is enriched with new words, but can also be damaged when it borrows words from other languages, which are often introduced due to historical, social, cultural reasons. , political, economic, religious.

Although the Albanian language is claimed as an isolated ancient language within the family of Indo-European languages, again within it you can find many borrowings from other languages, which can be not only words for everyday social uses, but also political, economic , cultural and religious.

The use of foreign words is not impossible, because they are coexistence mixtures or political, economic, cultural, religious impositions among peoples throughout history and especially in Albania. This phenomenon is also noticed as a result of the geographical position as a border country and as a road between the east and the west, thus making possible the influence of the different languages ??of passers-by or many invaders. Therefore, nowadays, in the Albanian language we see words borrowed from Greek, Latin, Bulgarian, Arabic, Turkish, etc.

The use of foreign words when used simply as borrowings, without knowing the meaning of their use, can become a damage to the language itself or in some cases even a religious sacrilege.

More specifically, in Albania, according to historical circumstances, we have several religious communities, which can be divided into two main faiths. Christianity, which has been established since the 1st century by the Apostles of Christ who spread the gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum (Romans 15-19) and Islam, which was installed in Albania after the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century.

The doctrine of these two faiths has also left its mark on the Albanian language with definitions of borrowed words with a religious character, being introduced into daily communication.

Since the 1st century, the pagan natives Christianized according to the Bible, call and worship God by the name of the Holy Trinity, or Father, Son and Holy Spirit, while those Islamized in the 15th century borrowed the name Allah. This term is found in the Koran since the 7th century. The origin of this name in the Arabic language is "ilah" (???), which means "worshipped".

Christian religious words borrowed in Albanian are pronounced first in speech and later in writing, because the message of Christ had to spread to all nations and in every language. (Matthew 28-19). The apostles in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost told the message of salvation from God in the Lord Jesus Christ to the crowd in every language as the Holy Spirit taught them: "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as The Spirit enabled them to speak" (Acts 2-4). Thus the Apostles taught the nations not with a "holy language" and for a "holy place", but with every language and in every place "that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow to those in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that: "Jesus Christ is Lord!" In honor of God the Father. (Philippians 2-11)

Whereas in Islam, religion is connected with the language and the specific place, such as Arabic, and Arabia, therefore Islam gave importance not only to the place where the Quran was revealed (Mecca), but also to the language and terminology in Arabic where the Quran was written. According to the Qur'an, every word was spoken to Muhammad by Allah in Arabic: "And if you are in doubt about what We have gradually revealed to Our servant, then bring you a book similar to it (the Qur'an) and call (for help) your witnesses (Lords) besides Allah, if you are sincere (in your statements that the Qur'an is not from God), you have not done it (until now), nor will you ever do it (even in the future), then beware of the Fire. , whose matter is men and stones, which is prepared for the unbelievers" (2:23-24).

"In spite of this, they (the idolaters) say that he (Muhammad) fabricated it. You say: "Bring a verse similar to this, and call on whomever you like for help, besides Allah, if you are righteous in what you say," (10:38).

"Say: 'Even if humans and jinn were to unite to bring such a Qur'an, they would not be able to do like this, however much they would help each other.'" (17:88).

Muhammad Esad, one of the greatest translators of the Koran, commentator and contemporary scholar, considers the Koran as "impossible to be 'reproduced' in any other language".

Fortunately, today in Albania we have a religious coexistence, or as it is called, religious harmony, respecting the other's religion in an exemplary manner. But, this does not mean that we should do a religious mixing or a linguistic religious syncretism.

Respecting another's religion does not mean that you have to agree with the other's religious doctrine. Multi-faith in our cosmopolitan society should not and is not a dividing factor, because a multi-religious and cosmopolitan society like ours, if it is not united by a religion that is not the same, is united by national, patriotic feeling and activity for all of us who live and we contribute to the same country, regardless of origin and religion, according to the axiom: "your homeland is where you work and live". This patriotism with an open mind encourages respect for the other's religion, without proselytizing imposed by any verbal, linguistic, physical, legal form on the believers of another religion, because religion is a personal relationship with the divine and no individual, group , or the secular state cannot influence the religion of another.

Although Christianity, Islam, along with Judaism, are classified as monotheistic or Abrahamic religions, again the concept of God that those religions believe and worship is very different.

For Christianity, God is the Holy Trinity and the Holy Trinity is one God in three divine persons (hypostasis), just as the Son and Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ taught the apostles: "For God so loved the world that he gave his Son only begotten, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 6:3-16).

"For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father; whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him" (John 5: 22-23).

"I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make all peoples my disciples! Baptize in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you! And, lo, I am with you always - to the end of the world!" (Matthew 28 19-20).

"The Antichrist is the one who denies the Father and the Son" (I John 2-22).

But for Islam, according to the teaching of Muhammad in the 7th century, who was presented to the Arabs and then to the world as the last prophet of mankind, God is called Allah and is the only proper name in the Islamic religion that translates as God in Albanian.

God, according to the Islamic definition, has neither sex, nor children, nor partners and who has no companion, nor Son, because according to the Koran: "They (Christians) say: 'The Most Merciful has a son.' You have said something really terrible! The heavens are almost torn apart by this; the earth almost breaks apart and the mountains fall in pieces, because they wear a son of the All-Merciful. It never behooves the All-Merciful to have a son. There is no creature in the heavens and the earth that does not come as a slave before the All-Merciful." (Maryem, 88-93)

"There is no rightly worshiped except Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger".

Therefore, the words that are used to define the name of God, in the Christian and Islamic perspectives, are different both in linguistic expression and in content.

Muslims are very careful in everyday language; they do not use Christian vocabulary, they never say about God: "Glory to the Holy Trinity"; "In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit", or other expressions of greeting character for Christians, such as: "May Jesus Christ be glorified": "Christ save you", "Christ among us", "Christ", " Amen" etc.

Muslims in Albanian use other words with religious connotations, which come from Arabic, unpronounced Turkish where they address Allah, whom they believe as God.

Among these borrowed words we can mention such as: "mashalla", "inshallah", or "halal", that is expressions of worship, prayer and protection from evil.

The word "Mashalla" is an Arabic expression (??? ????? ????????, m? sh?'a ll?h) which means "as God wills" or "what God wills". It also means "God bless you!", "God save you!", "Do not find anything evil!" and is used to express gratitude, joy, praise or thanks for an event or person that has been mentioned.

This expression is often used in the Muslim world to seek God's protection from something or someone, especially the evil eye.

"In shaa'Allah" (Arabic: ???? ????? ????????, transliteration: ?In sh?? All?h) is an Arabic expression of congratulation or hope used to express something that is expected to happen in the future.

Also, "halal" is an Arabic word that means legal or permitted. Regarding food, halal is the dietary standard, as described in the Qur'an. The opposite of halal is haram, which means illegal or forbidden.

Likewise, the word "kismet" means luck, or good fortune. It is used in expressions like "with kismet!", "healthy kismet!", "had kismet", "brought kismet", "went out for kismet" (to find good luck, to win), or as good luck

Even though the name Allah is not mentioned in this case, Christians still cannot say it, because in the Christian doctrine there is no kismat; it is not written about luck, but about blessing from God, which is accepted in complete freedom by man in synergy and not in fatality.

One can say that it is not a problem to use the words "mashalla", "inshallah", even by Christians as foreign borrowings or Turkisms of the Shipe language because they have meanings in Albanian when they are pronounced in Albanian, as we mentioned above.

No, you shouldn't, because these words are not just any words, but words that define the doctrine of a non-Christian religion and cannot be adapted to Christian faith and doctrine.

For example, when we as Christians pray to God Jesus Christ in Arabic or Turkish, we never say "Allahu Jesus Christ", but in Turkish we say "Rab ?sa Mesih" and in Arabic Alrabu Yasue Almasih (???? ???? ??????) .

So the Christians did not use the term Allah for God and use it as in the old Arabic language, or even Turkish as a relatively new language, because the Christians, even though they lived and live in these countries, have well defined that at the beginning the names and terms as addressed to the Triadic God and God Jesus Christ in every language including in Albanian.

But even Muslims do not want them to use the name of Allah for a God other than the one they believe in, they even call this religious sacrilege and the Koran clearly states: "The Jews say Ezra is the son of Allah while the Christians say the Messiah is the son of May Allah destroy them. They worship the rabbis, the monks and the Messiah, the son of Mary, in opposition to the monotheistic commandment given to them (9:30, 31).

The unbelievers are those who say Allah is the Messiah, the son of Mary (5:17).

The Swiss newspaper "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" writes about this: "Many Muslims are of the opinion that non-Muslims are not allowed to utter the word "Allah". ...angry Muslims held banners with writings such as "Allah belongs to Muslims" or "do not provoke the Islamic religion".

Therefore, we as Christians should not use in our daily communication the words that belong to the Islamic religion, such as Mashallah, Inshallah, Halal, Kismet, nor simply as expressions of custom like Arabism or Turkism in the Albanian language for so many centuries, but as believers of Christians to be responsible when we express what we are talking about and we must address God (the Holy Trinity) and God Jesus Christ with words that clearly express our Christian faith in Albanian.

We Christians, according to the Holy Scriptures and centuries-old tradition, when we want to praise someone or something and protect them from the evil eye, curse, slander, etc. we give glory to God and say with joy: "Glory to God"; "Glory to God"; "Christ save you", or "Christ".

When we hope for something good that we want to happen according to divine providence, we say with prayer and faith: "God's will be done"; "God willing". (Jacobi 4-15)

Always when we say God for us Christians is not an impersonal energy, but is a divine being in three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and we say God is the Son of God and the Son of man Jesus Christ, which is translated into Albanian the name Jesus (God saves") and the surname Christ (anointed of God).

I repeat, when we talk about this problem, it does not mean that we are simply against Arabisms and Turkisms in the Albanian language, or Islamophobia, but we as Christians must be correct when we speak and truthfully before the God we believe in, but also with ourselves and with others around us what we believe, that it is not enough only the mind, but also the mouth to clearly say what you believe, as the Apostle of the nations Paul tells us:

"The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart". This is the word of faith that we preach, because if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Because with the heart, a person believes in righteousness and with the mouth confession is made for salvation, because the Scripture (Bible) says: "Whoever believes in him will not be ashamed". For there is no difference between Jew and Greek, for one is the God of all, rich to all who call on him. In fact: "Whoever calls on the name of God will be saved" (Romans 10 9-13)

Thus the word is of great importance for affirming or denying our faith in Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ has warned us: "But I am telling you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every idle word they have said. For on the basis of your words you will be justified and on the basis of your words you will be condemned" (Matthew 12:36-37).

"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven " Matthew 10:32-33)./ CNA