Dear Doha Diary

I'm feeling a little guilty ....actually on two counts - one because I haven't written a blog for a while (six weeks I think!!) and two because I've just realised I've been asking some of my Muslim colleagues to defy the Quran !  ...... not deliberately and I hope Allah will forgive me! It all came about following a conversation with a Palestinian colleague some weeks ago, who was explaining the real meaning of 'Inshallah' to me...... as most of you know, it means 'God willing'.  However, my friend was discussing the different ways in which people use the phrase and how, in fact, it is often abused.  He explained it thus: A person should only use 'Inshallah' in the context that they fully intend to do something and it will  happen if God wills or it is in his plan.  The only reason that it wouldn't happen would be if God intervened somehow. He went on to say that some Muslims will use 'inshallah' as a 'get-out' clause, a