«عَلِّمْنَاهُمْ عَ الشِّحَاتَهْ سَبَقُونَا عَلَى الْأَبْوَابْ»

The saying laments being outdone by the very people one helped. Having passed on a skill or a means of earning, the teacher finds the students reaching the same doors first, the households where alms are sought, competing for the same limited goodwill.

Beyond the rivalry, it charges ingratitude: the newcomers forget who opened the way. Begging serves as a deliberately humble, almost comic image for any craft someone shares and then loses ground in. A singular variant, "we taught him," carries the same sense.

Use it when someone you trained or introduced to a trade now competes against you for the same customers or favors, without acknowledging your help. It suits wry complaint among peers; aimed directly at the former learner, its rueful, accusatory edge can sound like an insult.