- English translation
Caught between one thing and another, we lost what was ours.
- Literal wording
Between Hāna and Māna, our beards were lost.
- Meaning and lesson
The proverb expresses losing something while a matter remains suspended between two alternatives. Its focus is the loss caused by being caught in the middle, rather than by either alternative alone; the beards are figurative imagery for what has been lost, not a literal injury.
It can also describe something being worn away through repeated back-and-forth, when the exchange itself consumes what was at stake. An old colloquial proverb, it is recorded with a related wording by al-Ibshihi.
- When it is used
Use it when a person or group loses out because a decision remains between two options or because prolonged back-and-forth consumes what mattered. It emphasizes the cost of delay or indecisive exchange, not literal harm.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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