«اِللِّي يْخَافْ مِنِ الْعَقْرَبَهْ تِطْلَعْ لُهْ أُمَّ ارْبَعَهْ وَارْبِعِينْ»

The proverb portrays an unhappy reversal: a person tries to avoid one danger yet meets a threat judged more serious. It suggests that fear-driven avoidance can lead to an outcome more troubling than the one originally feared.

It can also frame misfortune as a bitter escalation, when precautions against a lesser harm are followed by a greater one. Its named creature, literally “mother of forty-four,” is an insect-like many-legged pest, not a woman.

Used when an effort to avoid a feared problem results in a more serious one. It comments on the irony of evasive action leading to a harsher difficulty, rather than on the character of any particular group.