«اِلنُّخَالَهْ قَامِتْ وِالْعَلَامَهْ نَامِتْ»

The image comes from sifting flour. Bran, the husk and chaff sifted away and discarded as cheap, is pictured standing tall, while al-'alama, here meaning not 'sign' but the finest white flour, lies down as if asleep. The rhyming Arabic verbs 'rose' and 'slept' set the two halves against each other.

Applied to people and situations, it laments that the base and unworthy have climbed upward while the excellent and high-ranking have sunk. It is a remark about upside-down fortunes, often voiced with resentment or sorrow at the change.

Use it when commenting on a reversal of standing: a person of little worth gains prominence while someone of real merit or rank falls into obscurity. It carries a note of complaint or wry disapproval at how the order of things has been overturned.