«اِلرَّفِيقِ الْمِخَالِفْ لَا عَاشْ وَلَا بَقَى»

The saying calls down ill on a companion who goes against the person he is supposed to stand beside. Its closing words are a curse rather than a description of his fate, wishing that such a fellow neither live nor endure and condemning his contrariness in the strongest terms.

Behind the curse lies the expectation that companions should act in accord. The opposition is left broad, covering quarrelling, refusing to cooperate or breaking faith alike. A partner who keeps opposing you is treated as worse than no partner at all, someone whose presence spoils the shared undertaking.

Said of a companion or associate who keeps setting himself against the person he accompanies instead of cooperating. It condemns that contrariness in the form of a curse, so it fits moments when someone's opposition within a shared undertaking has become the grievance itself.