Vocabulary 101

I thought I would put in a little introductory post about common Arabic vocabulary used by all muslims around the world. Usually, we try not to use these words around people who aren't muslim so as not to confuse them, but you know, sometimes it just accidentally slips out. So here is a little basic course about what those words mean:

1. As-salaamu-alaikum: Literally, 'may peace be upon you.' The universal greeting of muslims in every country, and every culture. It's actually considered rude or bad to start talking to someone without offering them a proper greeting first.
2. Wa-alaikum-as-salaam: How a person replies to the above greeting. You'll notice its just a rearranging of the words, with an addition of 'wa' at the beginning which means 'and.' Literally, it means 'And upon you as well, may there be peace.'
3. InshaAllah: God-willing. Since everything is ordained by God/Allah, and we don't know if what we plan will happen or not, we add in 'InshaAllah' to mostly all things we say about the future.
   
   For example, if we're talking about some plans for tomorrow, we may say "Yes, I'll go to the market tomorrow, InshaAllah." or "InshaAllah, you'll get the letter I sent in the mail by next week." "Don't worry, you'll get better soon, InshaAllah." So what we mean is, that we'll do our best on something, but of course, God will decide if we are actually able (or even alive by then), to do it.
   
   Actually, this term is in the Bible as well. The Bible ordained that no one say anything without saying "God Willing" after it. Again, this is another one of those little things where you can see that originally, all religions were the same.
4. MashaAllah: As God has willed it. This term is said when we are commenting on something good. For example: "Oh, your child is so pretty, mashaAllah!", "MashaAllah, he's funny.", "MashaAllah, you've grown so tall since I last saw you!" etc.
5. SubhanAllah: Glory to God. Informally used, it's also like the "wow" of muslims, in a way. Like whenever we see something surprising or amazing, we can be like "SubhanAllah, I didn't know they serve free pizza in the university lounge on Fridays!" or something.similar, hehe. :)
6. Alhamdulillah: All Praises and Thanks to God. Used whenever something happens which deserves thanks to God, which happens a lot! There are a myriad of ways in which this word can be used, since every single thing that happens to us in daily life deserves the utmost gratitude and thanks to God. So we woke up this morning? Alhamdulillah! We can see, hear, feel, think, speak, touch, learn, eat, drink, walk, run, etc? Alhamdulillah!! We tripped and fell, but weren't hurt or anything serious? Alhamdulillah. Usually on asked "How are you?", a common reply one can get is "Alhamdulillah", meaning that however we are, we should be grateful for that and are happy about it. I've also heard it said in situations where someone says "Oh, you have pretty eyes" and they replied with: "Thanks. Alhamdulillah." :)
7. Allahu Akbar: God is Great. Pretty self-explanatory.
8. Jazak Allahu Khayr: May Allah grant you with good. This is said in place of "Thank you" to another person. The word 'thank you' isn't enough to express gratitude to someone else - what better way to thank someone than to pray for them that God recompenses them with something good in return?

So I hope anyone reading this learnt something new today, InshaAllah, if you weren't aware of these words before.

EDIT: I just thought I would add in here, that I am not Arab, if someone was of the impression from the above. These words are just basic words that any muslim around the world knows.  I would like to learn Arabic though, InshaAllah.