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Arabic · Arabic scriptProverb: Verified

«جِيتْ أَدْعِي عَلِيهْ لَقِيتِ الْحِيطَهْ مَايْلَهْ عَلِيهْ»

Meanings

Each meaning is reviewed on its own.

Meaning: Verified
English translation

I was just about to curse him, and there was the wall already tipping over onto him.

Literal wording

I came to pray against him; I found the wall leaning over him.

Meaning and lesson

The speaker begins to call down misfortune on someone they dislike, only to see that disaster is already closing in on him: the wall above him is tilting and about to collapse. Any curse would be redundant, since fate has taken up the work without being asked.

Applied to people, the saying marks an ill-starred, unwelcome figure whose misfortunes multiply on their own, one blow arriving after another. It observes that such a person seems to attract ruin from every side, so that ill will from others hardly adds anything. The masculine pronoun is grammatical; it can apply to anyone.

When it is used

Use it to remark, with dry, faintly gloating irony, on a resented person whose troubles keep piling up before anyone else needs to wish them harm. It suits informal talk about rivals or difficult people, and may sound callous if aimed at someone genuinely sympathetic.

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