- English translation
The thief must answer for what he did; it's not our concern.
- Literal wording
The thief and his deed.
- Meaning and lesson
The expression ties a wrongdoer to the act he committed. Here the "deed" is the theft itself, not his job or work in a neutral sense. Whoever has stolen carries the responsibility and will be called to account for it, and nobody else has to shoulder the blame for what he took.
In practice, the phrase lets a speaker put clear distance between himself and another person's misconduct. It stresses individual accountability and leaves consequences with the one who earned them. It does not necessarily approve of ignoring a theft, only of declining to share its guilt.
- When it is used
Use it when someone pulls you into another person's wrongdoing and you want to say the guilty party alone must face the consequences. It works for stepping back from blame or a dispute that is not yours, without implying the theft itself is acceptable.
- Register
- Colloquial Arabic
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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