What is a Latin version of Inshallah?

Question

Anyone who served in the military in Iraq (and probably anyone who has done business in the Gulf) in the last 15 years is familiar with the term 'Inshallah.' I suppose it means 'God willing,' as in, "I will do this thing, Inshallah." Realistically, it is used to evade responsibility while giving the listener a hope that divine intervention will allow the task at hand to be completed (source).

In this context, I was noticing the similarity between this expression and a very different one, 'Deus Vult,' the battle cry of the crusaders after the 1095 Council at Clermont. That, I understand, translates to "God wills it!"

The difference between the two is basically one of verb conjugation. As far as internet dictionaries tell me, 'vult' is the third person singular present indicative. To make it more of a question or conditional, you would want it to be in the subjunctive, I think, 'velit.'

Would 'Deus Velit' express the same kind of abdication of responsibility in favor of divine will that 'Inshallah' represents? If not, what would be the correct expression? And for any correct expression, are there records of this phrase being used in the past, perhaps in the more faithful Middle Ages?

Answer 1

A common Christian formula is Deo iuvante, literally "with God helping", more naturally rendered in English as "with God's help" or "if God helps". It signifies that the matter in question will only be completed successfully if God favors it and actively cooperates.

The phrase has a long history. Google Books returns about 65,000 hits total for deo juvante, deo iuvante, juvante deo, and iuvante deo. (Both spellings are equivalent, and the word order doesn't matter, though it's more common to put deo first.) In chronological order, here are some that seemed interesting.

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The Last Pagans of Rome takes use of deo iuvante in letters around 400 A.D. as evidence that their authors had converted from paganism to Christianity.

The national motto of Monaco is Deo juvante. The phrase appears on the coat of arms of its ruling family, the Grimaldis. Apparently this dates to 1297, when François Grimaldi took control of the city by a ruse involving soldiers dressed as monks.

This odd book on freemasonry reports records of acceptance in Latin of a high masonic degree ("Supreme Master") in a long series starting in 1324 and ending in 1804, nearly all with deo juvante, e.g.:

Ego Arnaldus de Braque supremum magisterium deo juvante acceptum habeo anno domini 1340.

Around 1427, Thomas à Kempis wrote in The Imitation of Christ, book 1, ch. 13, "On resisting temptations":

Qui tantummodo exterius declinat, nec radicem evellit, parum proficiet, imo citius ad eum tentationes redient, et pejus sævient. Paulatim, et per patientiam cum longanimitate Deo juvante melius superabis, quam cum duritia et importunitate propria.

One who merely avoids [temptations] outwardly, not tearing out the root, will make little progress. Indeed, the temptations will return to him more quickly and rage worse than before. Little by little, through patience and long-suffering you will overcome them with God's help better than with harshness and your own crude ways.

This book reports seven Dutch cargo ships, built from 1925 to 2008, named Deo Juvante, as well as other ships with the comparable names Deo Favente ("God favoring"), Deo Volente ("God Willing"), Deo Confidentes ("Trusting in God"), Deo Gratias ("Thanks be to God"), Deo Data ("Given by [or to] God"), and Deo Duce ("With God as the leader").

Usage continues to the present day. A search on Twitter reveals one or two occurrences a month, sometimes stuck into sentences in other languages.

Answer 2

Si Deus velit would be quite satisfactory, 'if God should wish [it]', but is, I think, neither as usual or as forceful as the more familiar ablative absolute form Deo volente, 'with God willing', often abbreviated as 'DV'.

On old British coinage, etc., Dei Gratia, by the grace of God' used to appear, later shortened to 'DG', with very similar meaning. [The full inscription included abbreviations for the phrases Dei gratia Rex, Fidei Defensor and Indiae Imperator, the last of which was dropped after independence was granted to India.]

Answer 3

From Bibliander's translation of the Qur'an, surah 18, ayah 69,

Dixit Moyses, Deo uolente, me quilibet sustinentem, nec te in quoquam offendentem semper inuenies.

This is not a literal translation. The original Arabic, transliterated here into a more familiar alphabet is

Qala satajidunee in sha'a Allahu ṣabiran wa la a`ṣee laka amra

Bibliander clearly felt that Deo uolente was the nearest Latin equivalent to the Arabic in sha'a Allahu.

Answer 4

For a monotheist, Tom Cotton's answer is best; for a polytheist (like the ancient Romans), it would be in the plural, so something like dis volentibus ("with the gods willing").

Another way to word it, which is very similar to Tom Cotton's answer, is si di volunt ("if the gods wish it") or si di volent ("should the gods wish it").

Plautus Bacchides 239:

Extexam ego illum pulchre iam, si di volunt. "Now I will beautifully unravel him, if the gods are willing."

Plautus Poenulus 911

Hercle qui meus conlibertus faxo eris, si di volent.

Cicero In Verrem 2.3.157.10

Fac sciat improbitatem aratorum; ipsi sudabunt, si di volunt.

Historiae Augustae 45.2.5

scriptum esset: 'illa die, illa hora ab urbe sum exiturus et, si di voluerint, in prima mansione mansurus'...

Fronto Ad M. Caesarem et Invicem 5.58.1.4

Sed venies saepe et tecum celebrabimus, si dei volent, omnia festa nostra.

Answer 5

C.M. Weimer has given an expectedly excellent answer to the Latin part of this question. Otherwise, it might be permitted to add that the Muslim usage is in response to an explicit Qur’anic injunction (18:23) that one must not make any statement about the future without adding the proviso “if God wills”. This is not about “evading responsibility”. It is about the future not being predictable. Ever.