Ma sha 'Allaah

Use of the term by non-Muslims: The expression ΜΑΣΑΛΑΧ ( Masallach ) over an abandoned Karamanic church near Incesu in Turkey

Mā shā 'Allaah ( Arabic ما شاء الله Mā schā'a llāh , DMG mā Sa'a llāh  what God wants'), also mash allah written is one in the Arab and Islamic common world Arabic phrase from the Koran .

The idiom is generally used in the Islamic world (e.g. also by non-Arabic-speaking residents, Christian Arabs and as marshalla among Roman Catholic Albanians ) to express godliness or amazement.

The term is also used as an exclamation of admiration when you see something beautiful or desirable, and is then used to keep the evil eye and possible envy away.

Another use of the term denotes an indefinite, greater or lesser amount, length of time or number: "He sat in the room (as long as God wanted it)" - that is, he sat in the room for a while.

In the spelling "Maschallah" (or "Marshalla") it is also used as a male first name.

See also

• Māshā'allāh ibn Atharī
• In shā 'Allaah

Web links

Wiktionary: maschallah  - explanations of meanings, word origins , synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rudolf Ernst Brünnow , August Fischer : Arab Chrestomacy from prose writers . Leipzig 1960. p. 123 with references.