«اِلنَّارْ مَا تَاكُلْشْ حَطَبْهَا كُلُّهْ»

The saying pictures misfortune as a fire that consumes much but never everything placed on it. However severe a blow may be, some portion is left behind, so a person struck by loss is reminded that disaster rarely wipes the slate entirely clean.

In practice it serves as comfort for someone whose wealth has been reduced or whose family has suffered deaths, while some possessions or children remain. It encourages the listener to value and hold on to what survives rather than dwelling only on what has gone.

Offered as consolation to someone who has lost wealth, or who has been bereaved of some of their children, when part of what they had still survives. Because it can concern the death of children, use it with care; offered too soon after a loss, it may sound dismissive.