«اِللِّي يْخَافْ مِنِ الْعَفْرِيتْ يِطْلَعْ لُهْ»

The saying observes that a person may encounter the very unwelcome matter that has occupied their fears. It links persistent dread of a disliked possibility with subsequently finding oneself faced with it.

It can be applied when someone repeatedly worries about an unwanted development and then falls into that situation. The emphasis is on the ironic convergence between what a person fears most and what happens to them.

Use it when a person has dwelt on an unwelcome possibility and later encounters it. It comments on the unhappy irony of fearing a matter and then finding oneself involved in it, without specifying why the outcome occurred.