ProverbHub
Arabic · Arabic scriptProverb: Verified

«اِلْفِقِي يِقِيسِ الْمَيَّهْ فِي الزِّيرْ»

Meanings

Each meaning is reviewed on its own.

Meaning: Verified
English translation

The Quran reciter keeps a close gauge on the water left in his jar.

Literal wording

The fiqi measures the water in the water jar.

Meaning and lesson

The saying pictures a fiqi, here a reciter and memorizer of the Quran rather than a jurist, measuring the water left in the zir, the large earthenware drinking-water jar. Even this ordinary, freely shared household supply must be tracked, portraying someone so tight-fisted that nothing escapes his tally.

Behind the image lies a traditional popular stereotype casting reciters as miserly and fond of accumulating what they receive. The proverb uses that stock figure to brand someone as stingy and grasping; the stereotype belongs to the saying's tradition and is not a fair judgment of reciters.

When it is used

Fits a teasing or critical remark about someone who counts and guards even trivial, freely shared things, especially one who hoards. Because it targets reciters as a class, it can read as mocking religious figures or a whole occupation, and should not be used to endorse that stereotype.

Cite or copy proverb