«مَا كُل مِنْ لَفِّ الْعِمَامَة يْزِينْهَا»

The saying separates the outward badge of a status from the merit that should stand behind it. The turban stands for any mark of rank, learning, or respectability, not for turban-wearers as a group. Anyone can wind the cloth, yet not everyone graces it or is graced by it; either reading points to fitness for the role.

In practice it warns against trusting appearances and punctures pretension. A person who adopts the look of authority or learning is not thereby qualified, just as mounting a horse does not make someone a true horseman.

Use it when someone has taken on the trappings of a position, such as a title, uniform, or dignified bearing, without the competence or character it implies. It works as a dry reminder that appearances prove nothing.