«حَبِيبَكْ اللِّي تْحِبُّهْ وَلَوْ كَانْ عَبْدْ نُوبِي»

Fondness follows where the heart leans and what it grows accustomed to, not who seems most deserving of it. A person becomes truly dear because you are drawn to them, and that attachment does not wait for good looks or standing to justify itself.

The saying makes its point through an extreme case: a Nubian slave, whom its historical framing treats as a figure of low worth or appeal. That prejudiced premise belongs to the saying, not to fact. Its claim is that attachment answers to inclination rather than to qualities others weigh.

Used to explain or defend an attachment that onlookers find hard to understand, answering why someone is loved by pointing to inclination rather than merit. Because its example rests on a demeaning view of an enslaved ethnic group, quoting it risks repeating that stereotype.