- English translation
Whoever owns even a single share of the horse has the right to ride it.
- Literal wording
The owner of a qirat in the horse rides.
- Meaning and lesson
A qirat is a fractional share of property, traditionally one twenty-fourth, not a gem-weight carat. Holding any stake in shared property, however small, gives a genuine right to use it; co-owners cannot shut out a minor partner because the share is tiny, since the right comes from ownership, not size.
The horse stands for any jointly held asset, not horsemanship as such. More broadly, partial entitlement is still entitlement: whoever has a legitimate part in a common resource, venture, or inheritance may benefit from it, and excluding them on proportion alone is unjustified. A variant opening with 'whoever has' carries the same sense.
- When it is used
Use it when a minor partner, heir, or co-owner claims access to something held in common and others try to sideline them. It can back up a modest stakeholder's claim, or wryly concede that even a small share cannot be ignored.
- Register
- Colloquial Arabic proverb
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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