If you have ever done any kind of work in the Middle East, or have worked with someone from an Arab nation, you have probably heard the expression “inshallah”. The direct translation of inshallah is ‘if Allah wills’ or ‘God willing’ (Inshallah, 2015). People write this expression in many different ways. The most proper way to write it is “in sha’a Allah”. It is technically three different words, which literally translate to ‘if Allah wills’. Some people add apostrophes in various places, for example insh’Allah or insha’Allah (Yahoo Answers, n.d.). But the most common English spelling, and the one I will use, is inshallah.
Most Muslims use this term for what it means. They say it “referring to any future occurrence, recognizing that tomorrow isn’t promised and that most of the conditions in our lives are out of our hands” (Jitan, 2013). It is meant to be a positive response to something that will happen in the future. Unfortunately, the term has taken on a negative connotation in today’s business and social interactions. It has become like a promise not to do something. Arabs and expats alike seem to abuse the expression to gently brush things off as unimportant or insignificant. They feel that saying inshallah is better than just telling the other person “no” even when they have no intention of following through with the task (Layla, 2010). “Colloquially, the phrase is closer to ‘don’t count on it’”(Jitan, 2013).
I lived and worked in Doha, Qatar for one year and became very familiar with the expression inshallah. We ran into many obstacles for meeting deadlines because the local Qataris always wanted to do things “inshallah”. Meetings were usually prompt and ran on time. However, getting things done and having decisions made was another story. I worked with many media outlets including Aljazeera. When it came time to pay their fees for using our facilities, it was always met with an “inshallah”. They eventually came through but it wasn’t until after the event. Although this was unacceptable in our Western standards, to them they paid on time.
Doing business in an Arab country where inshallah is common practice in business takes a lot of patience. As an expat in their world, it is important to learn to accept that your deadlines must be flexible. Moran, Harris and Moran (2011) recommend to avoid imposing Western time frames and schedules to be successful in business in the Middle East. Remember that their day is divided into five prayer times per day. Meetings should be scheduled around these times. In general, inshallah isn’t a bad thing. If you plan to do business in an Arab country just be ready for it, plan for it and embrace it. Inshallah.
References
Inshallah. (2015). In Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved March 24, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inshallah
Jitan, A. (2013, March 26). Inshallah | The Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2013/03/27/inshallah#.VROjwzvF83Q
Layla. (2010, December 19). Blue Abaya. Retrieved from http://www.blueabaya.com/2010/12/abused-inshallah.html
Moran, R. T., Harris, P. R., & Moran, S. V. (2011). Managing cultural differences: Global leadership strategies for cross-cultural business success (8th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.
Yahoo Answers. (n.d.). How to correctly spell inshallah. Retrieved March 24, 2015, from https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100930142501AAjNAb7
Luckily I work in a very large company that has dealings with many customers from all over the world. A few years ago we did business with a company that’s home base was in Dubai; I personally never traveled there but people from our company had and their representatives had come to our company in the US many times. Typically you did not encounter the individuals from the customer unless you were invited to a meeting and had a key component of information that the customer needed to understand. Great relationships were built and both the company and the customer were very happy with all business dealings until the payment of the product came. The payment took well over 60 days, as you stated in your post it is not acceptable in our culture but in theirs it was right on time and they didn’t understand why we would have any concern. After many information sessions were held with the majority of the people involved from the US on the culture of the customer and how business dealings occurred it was understood and the tension we held for the customer slowly dwindled. It is funny to me that there are so many differences in cultures but the one thing that I would imagine would be the same for all is payment of goods or services. That is far from the case and this post proves it is common across the board and normal business practice to pay later.
Good post.
Thanks for sharing this. I had always wondered why that saying was used so much when dealing with Arab partners in business, but it makes sense now. Instead of using Google, I was able to use this blog and do what was intended…learn from it!
I can relate to your experience on lack of urgency within in the culture. My experience with the Arab culture, business wise, is limited at best. However, I did have one significant interaction which mirrors much of what you are saying in this post.
We were sourcing for an accounts payable software for easier tracking and uploading of invoices. Essentially, the company would pay us, under the payment terms we agreed to, and they would charge a fee to the payee and collect later. This is used often in the business world, especially with large organizations.
We were recommended to many companies, but the one that stood out the most was based in Dubai. Their business development team was exceptional, putting together one of the best proposals and presentations that I have yet to experience. Their company had a fantastic reputation, and they fit our needs. So, we selected them.
The implementation process was to take roughly four months to complete. Both sides had a project team for the integration and for the cadence of communicating with our end customers. The project plan was succinct with it’s deliverables, and both teams were aligned with the dates for completion.
Soon after we began, we noticed how much difference there was in the urgency of the project. Those of us here in the States usually work with a great sense of urgency (admittedly I am worse than most) and our counterparts in Dubai…they simply took things as they came. The work they completed was thorough and accurate, however it was never on time. For four months, it was a battle to try and keep the project on timeline.
Despite the fight, the project delivered three weeks behind schedule, which did not make my leadership happy. However, the integration was seamless and cash flow was not impacted. In fact, there were so few bugs that it was easy to overlook the missed deadline.
Playing Monday Morning Quarterback is easy now, but had I had this class, and read this blog prior to going into this venture, I could have saved myself some of the stress that I encountered. While we would not have changed any dates or timelines, as that would have simply pushed the project further, we could have kept our management team aligned on a realistic expectation and not gotten so stressed.
Thanks for sharing your experience!