When Anne Hathaway casually dropped the word “inshallah” during a recent interview, the clip quickly spread across social media, attracting hundreds of thousands of likes. But the actress is only the latest sign of a trend that has been building for years.
Analysis by The National of the GDELT global news database shows mentions of “inshallah” across English-language news outlets have tripled since 2017. The word had already begun to appear in western popular culture, including Sting's 2016 song Inshallah, but its use in mainstream English-language news has since accelerated. The Arabic phrase, meaning “if God wills it”, is now increasingly used without explanation.
GDELT monitors language across tens of thousands of online, broadcast and print news organisations worldwide, making it possible to track how words enter and spread through the media. The data suggests inshallah has steadily become part of the English-language news vocabulary.
And it’s not only in news mentions. Google search trends show the same pattern. Over the past five years, searches for “meaning inshallah” have risen by about 130 per cent. Searches for “translate inshallah from Arabic” are up more than 700 per cent, while searches for “mashallah vs inshallah” have increased by about 1,800 per cent, reflecting growing curiosity among English-speaking audiences.
The first noticeable jump in news mentions came in 2017 after Lindsay Lohan posted “inshallah” on Instagram, prompting days of speculation over whether she had converted to Islam. Two years later, the election of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib as the first Muslim women in the US Congress brought Arabic and Islamic language into political coverage more frequently.
Another rise followed in 2020. The Beirut port explosion generated extensive international reporting from Lebanon. Weeks later, Joe Biden used the word during a US presidential debate with Donald Trump, sparking another wave of coverage in the American media.
As war broke out in Gaza in October 2023, inshallah became more familiar as many in the western world starting following influencers and eye witnesses from the enclave. Mentions of the word remained high before climbing again this year, coinciding with renewed interest in Hathaway's interview.
Words often cross borders long before dictionaries recognise them, becoming familiar through news coverage, migration, entertainment and social media. Arabic expressions such as “inshallah”, “habibi” (“my love”) and “mashallah” (“God has willed it”) increasingly appear in English conversations without needing translation. Drake's recent album Habibti is another example of Arabic entering mainstream popular culture. Derived from the Arabic root habib (“beloved”), habibti is a common term of endearment meaning “my love”, “my dear” or “my darling” when addressing a woman.
