Khuda Hafiz (), Pashto: خداۍ حافظ (khuday hafiz), ( Khoda Hafej), ( Khọdā Hạ̄fiz), , , ( Xudā Hāfiz), Kurdish language: , (kẖwạ ḥạfy̰z), ), is a common parting phrase originating in the Persian language. It is most commonly used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and in South Asia,
In Persian, it is colloquially often shortened to Khodafez.
Meaning
Literally translated it is: "May God be your Guardian".
Khuda, which is
Persian language for
God, and
hāfiz which is the Arabic word for "protector" or “guardian”.
The vernacular translation is, "Good-bye". The phrase is also used in the Azerbaijani,
Sindhi language, Kashmiri,
Urdu,
Hindi,
Bengali language and
Punjabi language languages.
It also can be defined as "May God be your protector."
Romanization
may also include
Khudā Hāfiz,
Khudā Hāfez, and
Khodā Hāfiz. In
Pakistan &
Azerbaijan, Romanized term of خدا حافظ is often used especially in online conversation. One would traditionally respond with replying
Khudā Hāfiz. Khuda Hafiz and the English term Goodbye have similar meanings. Goodbye is a contraction of "God be with ye".
Variations
A variation of this includes
Allah Hāfiz which became prevalent in
Pakistan after Islamization
and in
Bangladesh in a way to counter cultural Persian influence and focus more on
Arabic-oriented Islamic influence. In Pakistan, this variation was used as a counter to the original
Khuda Hāfiz. Despite the word
Allah being Arabic, it is not used as a parting phrase in the
Arab world, where
Ma'a Salamah is said.
External links
