«وَاحِدْ وَاخِدْ وِعَشْرَهْ مَتْهُومِينْ»

The saying sketches a familiar injustice: a single person commits the theft, yet a crowd of others ends up under suspicion. It points to how one act of wrongdoing spreads its consequences outward, so that many people who did nothing carry blame, scrutiny, or punishment.

Beyond literal theft, it serves as a broader remark on collective consequences. The misconduct of one individual can bring trouble on many innocent people. Its force is sharpened by the near-rhyme between the words for 'one' and 'taker', which binds the lone culprit to the many accused.

Fits moments when a whole group falls under suspicion or pays a price because of one person's misdeed, such as an unsolved theft or a collective penalty. It voices a complaint or protest on behalf of the blameless.