«مَا يْنُوبِ الْمِخَلَّصْ إِلَّا تَقْطِيعْ هُدُومُهْ»

The saying pictures someone wading into a physical scuffle to pull the fighters apart, not a formal mediator but a bystander who steps between them. The brawlers walk away, and the only thing the would-be rescuer has to show for the effort is a ripped shirt. Good intentions bring no reward, only damage.

More broadly, the torn clothes stand for any harm or loss suffered by anyone who sets out to put other people's affairs right or to patch up their differences, only to become the one who suffers. The effort to help turns back on the helper, who is left nursing the harm.

Apply it to a person who stepped in to reconcile others or to improve their situation and ended up suffering damage himself as a direct result of that well-meant effort.