«لُهْ فِي كُلِّ خَرَابَهْ عَفْرِيتْ»

The saying describes a person who cannot escape opposition. Wherever he turns, some adversary seems already in place, ready to frustrate his plans. The image draws on the folk belief that abandoned ruins harbour an afreet, a powerful and often malicious spirit; the ruin is figurative, not a literal place.

In practice it conveys persistent bad luck in the form of hostile people or circumstances, not a single enemy. The afreet stands for an opponent working against him, not a trait of his own. Spoken of oneself, it becomes a resigned lament that every undertaking meets someone determined to block it.

Use it about someone who meets an obstacle or an antagonist at every turn, as if hostile people or circumstances lie in wait wherever he goes. It does not suggest that he himself is wicked or haunted.