«شَرِّ الزَّغَابَهْ جَهْ عَلَى وْلَادْ غَانِمْ»

The saying draws on the Hilali epic, in which the Zughba tribe counted the celebrated horseman Diyab son of Ghanim among its own. Whatever harm the tribe as a whole caused, the reckoning fell on Ghanim's sons, Diyab's kin and its most distinguished house, rather than on the people who did the deed.

Applied more widely, it describes a group's misconduct whose consequences pass over its ordinary members and land specifically on its leaders and notables. Those at the top answer for the wrongdoing of the many, so the remark carries a note of grievance about rank making someone the natural target for blame.

Fits remarks about a family, faction, or organization whose members misbehave while its heads or most prominent figures bear the blame or penalty. It suits wry or rueful commentary after the fallout has arrived, rather than advance warnings.