«بَيِّنْ عُذْرَكْ وَلَا تْبَيِّنْ بُخْلَكْ»

The saying recommends giving a reason when one cannot meet a request. Explaining the obstacle behind a refusal lets the other person understand that the answer arises from inability, rather than from a simple unwillingness to give.

It cautions that a bare refusal, offered with no reason, is easily read as miserliness. Once the cause is stated, the person who asked can accept the refusal as excusable, and declining in this open way brings no disgrace.

Used to advise someone who cannot provide what is asked to state the reason for declining, so the refusal is taken as a genuine inability rather than read as a sign of stinginess.