«رِجِعِ الْبَابْ لِعَقْبُهْ»

The image is a door swinging back onto its عقب, the pivot or socket it turns on, not a foot's heel or anything coming after. That fixed point is what the door always circles. Applied to people, it marks a return to an earlier condition, habit, or way of life after apparent change or departure.

The saying can also describe someone who drifts back to a person they once stayed close to. That earlier companion becomes the hinge the person keeps circling, so rejoining them looks like a natural and almost inevitable homecoming.

Use it to remark on someone who, after leaving or seeming to change, ends up back where they started: in their old circumstances, habits, or beside a companion they used to stay close to. It suits casual spoken comment rather than formal writing.