The Great Facebook ‘Insha’Allah’ Hoax

You probably have heard in the last few days about a new button being unveiled by Facebook to the Arabic market to allow the users in the region to respond with “Inshallah” to event invitation they receive

Yes, it is a great idea, but no - it's a joke.

The joke was started by a parody website The Pan-Arabia Enquirer, and unfortunately people fell for it!

Following the opening of its office in Dubai, Facebook has revealed the first of what it claims will be many alterations to the social media site tailored to the local Arabic market. As of next week, users across the Middle East and North Africa will have to opportunity to respond with ‘Insha’Allah’ to an event invitation, along with the usual ‘Join’, ‘Maybe’ and ‘Decline’.

“This was the result of several focus groups across the region,” said Facebook Arabia’s Regional Solutions Manager, Majid Johnson. “Adding an ‘Insha’Allah’ button for Facebook events was by far and away the most popular request.”

What was truly astounding was the reaction by readers who thought it was for real - despite being on a site that announces it is satire.

Some folks became really angry and said the button was 'sacrilegious'. To which other commentators responded that they did not have to press the button.

Perhaps best of all was the comment: "Why not make it the yimkin mumkin (maybe, perhaps) button? That will solve the religious issues…."


However, Facebook has said it will shortly add a "dislike" button - you have to "like" that.

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