«اِلْفَقِيرْ لَا يِتْهَادَى وِيِدَّادَى وَلَا تْقُومْ لُهْ فِي الشَّرْع شَهَادَهْ»

The saying complains that poverty strips a person of the small courtesies others receive. No one brings him presents or treats him with the soft, patient care a nurse gives a child. The two rhyming verbs, yithādā and yiddādā, pair the absence of gifts with the absence of tender handling.

The closing clause carries the neglect into the law. It may mean that his own testimony counts for nothing before a religious judge, or that nobody will come forward to testify on his behalf. Either way, it bitterly records, rather than approves, how the community overlooks him at every level, from friendly attention to justice.

Suited to bitter remarks criticizing how people without means are passed over, both in everyday kindness and in formal disputes. It works best as social commentary. Said directly to someone poor, it could sound wounding or contemptuous.