Allahu Akbar

About

“Allahu Akbar” also referred to by the term Takbir, is an Islamic Arabic expression widely used by Muslims in various contexts. It is commonly translated as “God is [the] greatest” or “God is greater” in English.

Origin

The phrase has been used by Muslims for over a millennium in various cultural and religious rituals, including as an expression of faith, distress call and declaration of victory. One of the earliest notable utterances of the Takbir on record is attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Badr on March 13th, 624 A.D.

In the West, the phrase is often associated with Islamic extremism, largely due to its widespread usage^[1] by militant jihadists as a battle cry shortly before or while committing an act of terrorism, most notably during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as its frequent appearance in English-language documentaries, films and other media on the subject.

Spread

On November 17th, 2005, Urban Dictionary^[4] user 23(tu-three) submitted an entry for “Allahu Akbar,” defining it an expression “used predminately by Muslims.” On November 30th, 2008, Ebaumsworld^[9] user freshsquilla uploaded a video titled “Allahu Snackbar,” in which an explosive weapon backfires and kills two Arabic men. On October 23rd, 2012, Redditor notsafeforviewing posted an animated GIF of a man yelling “Allahu Ackbar” in a crowded room prior to detonating several containers filled with silly string to the /r/ImGoingtoHellForThis^[7] subreddit, which gathered more than 2,100 upvoted (87% upvoted) before being archived (shown below).

On November 17th, the Israel Spokement^[5] YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “Terrorist Yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’ and Explodes.” On January 15th, 2014, a post about the parody phrase “Allahu snackbar” was submitted to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[8] subreddit. On June 15th, Redditor biff2204 submitted a post titled “Asleep on a plane, I was woken to this guy shouting in my face” to /r/videos,^[6] featuring a clip of a man yelling “Allahu Akbar” near the exit door on an airplane (shown below, left). In five months, the video gained over 4,800 votes (93% upvoted). On July 19th, YouTuber Creme de la meme TV uploaded a video of a toilet exploding while a man repeats the phrase “Allahu Akbar” titled “allahu akbar.webm” (shown below, right).

On September 10th, YouTuber bloodburgerEARTH^[3] uploaded a montage video titled “Collection of failed ‘allahu akbar’”, featuring video footage of explosives detonating prematurely and firearms backfiring. On September 20th, FunnyJunk^[2] user plaguehammer submitted an edited PSA commercial in which a man can be heard yelling “Allahu Akbar” while a car flips over and kills several children (shown below). On October 29th, the “Allahu Akbar Compilations” YouTuber channel was launched, featuring videos with a voice yelling “Allahu Akbar” dubbed over the background audio (shown below).