«وِقْعِتِ الْفَاسْ فِي الرَّاسْ»

The image is of an axe that has already come down on someone's head: the wound exists and cannot be undone. The Arabic pairs al-fās (the axe) with ar-rās (the head) in a short end rhyme that gives the line its punch. Applied to quarrels, it marks the moment a clash becomes real and harm has been inflicted.

The saying expresses grim acceptance rather than warning. It concerns a quarrel already under way, not misfortune at large: whatever hope there was of avoiding the fight has passed, and those involved now have no way out except to face the dispute they have entered.

Say it when a dispute has turned hostile and someone has already been hurt, to signal that retreat is now off the table and the parties must see the fight through. It suits a quarrel at its point of no return, not misfortune in general.