Arabic Proverbs

No one is stingier than Fate,
but I asked for four things anyway:

having sex but staying hard,
drinking wine but staying sharp,

spending money but staying rich,
and getting old with my hair still dark.

— Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Khwārazmī (d. 993)

Arabic proverb of the day:
👑

"How sweet is the throne even if you only rule over a stone!"

It rhymes in Arabic:

yā ḥabbadhā l-imāra wa-law ʿalā l-ḥijāra

Palestinian proverb:

"There are two things no one cares about: the death of the poor and the scandal of the rich."

شغلتين ما حد بيدري فيهم: موت الفقير وفضيحة الغني

shaghlatēn mā ḥad bidrī fīhum: mōt al-faʾīr wa-faḍīḥat al-ghanī

After perfect Paradise, Adam dwelt on Earth,
so forgive me if you will, for I am human too:

I'd spend my whole life sleeping,
since when I sleep I dream of you.

— Anonymous, quoted in al-Thaʿālibī, Yatīmat al-Dahr

🌜

"The day erases things said at night."

kalāmu l-layli yamḥūhu n-nahār

🌿

"The misfortunes of this world are more numerous than the plants of the earth."

maṣāʾibu d-dunyā aktharu min nabāti l-arḍ

Those are both great! I wish I knew more Turkish.

Turkish proverb:

"When an ox comes to the palace, it does not become a king. Instead, the palace becomes a barn."

Öküz saraya çıkınca kral olmaz. Ama saray ahır olur.

Elsewhere the general sense is said to be that the people will follow the mores of their political leader.

For this reading of it see the famous 10th-century Andalusī anthology al-ʿIqd al-Farīd where the early eighth-century Medinan scholar Abū Ḥāzim al-Aʿraj was said to have coined it during a conversation with the Umayyad caliph Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik.

"The sultan is a marketplace"

Said because whatever is in demand with the sultan is brought to him.

innamā s-sulṭānu sūq

People still say this but it's an old one.

The source is:

Proverbs of the non-Arabs, Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Khwārazmī (d. 993).

الأمثلة المولدة لمحمد بن العباس الخوارزمي، تحقيق محمد حسين الأعرجي

Proverb of the day
🧬

"People resemble the times they live in more than they resemble their parents."

an-nāsu bi-zamānihim ashbahu minhum bi-ābāʾihim

—Candle—
🕯️

My companion in darkness is
like me, lonely and struggling—

both sleepless, weeping, and pale,
our hearts are akin—

the only difference between us:
she flames brightly while I burn within.

—Abū Naṣr al-Fāriqī (Diyarbakır, d. 1094)

… just in case your timeline/the news cycle is getting you down, remember:

This age abuses us with its whims
but when did time treat anyone differently?

If the turning stars felt even one
of my troubles then they'd stop spinning.

—Ibn Lankak (Iraq, d. 970)

This is from a new proverb book, al-Amthāl al-Muwallada, Proverbs of the non-Arabs, by the Persian Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Khwārazmī (d. 993). He's different from al-Khwārazmī the mathematician.

🐜

"When God wants to destroy an ant he makes it grow wings."

Said when someone insignificant acts in a way that will lead to his destruction because of an inflated sense of power.

idhā arāda Allāhu halāka an-namlati anbata lahā janāḥayn

What's the Brazilian proverb?

—Springtime—
💐

Like a censer of incense
earth's filled with flowers' fragrance.

The plants, rocks, water, and clouds
all sing to their Lord in praise.

And we're dead weight on the land —
beneath us it almost gives way.

— al-Maʿarrī (Syria, d. 1057)

No. 366

"If you're going to lie then have a good memory."

in kunta kadhūban fa-kun dhakūran

No. 285

​Arabic proverb of the day:

"If you oppress those below you, don't feel secure from the punishment of Him who is above you."

idhā ẓalamta man dūnaka fa-lā taʾman ʿadhāba man fawqaka

Chase after love all you like,
you love your first
beloved forever.

We pass on this earth
through so many places —
it's always the first home
we long for.

— Abū Tammām (d. 845)

No. 59

"It's like you're hunting with your ass."

anta ka-l-muṣṭādi bi-stih

Said when someone searching for something finds it [unexpectedly] close (sc. who finds it by sitting on it).

يُضرَبُ في التَّحذيرِ لِلمُعْجَبِ بنفسِهِ

Alt text:

٥٨ – إِيَّاكَ وَأَهْلَبَ العَضَرُطِ
الأَهْلَبُ: الكَثيرُ الشَّعرِ. وَالعَضَرُطُ:
ما بينَ السَّهِ والمَذاكيرِ، ويُقالُ له العِجانُ،
وأصلُ المَثَلِ أنَّ امرأةً قالَ لها ابنُها: ما أَجِدُ
أَحداً إلا قهرتُهُ وغلبتهُ، فقالتْ: يا بُنَيَّ إيَّاكَ
وأَهْلَبَ العَضَرُطِ. قالَ: فصرَعَهُ رجلٌ مرَّةً،
فرأى في أَستِهِ شَعْراً، فقالَ: هذا الذي كانتْ
أُمي تُحذِّرُني منه.

He thought so this is what my mother warned me about.

A woman's son once told her that he hadn't met anyone he couldn't beat [in a fight]. The mother quoted this proverb to him.

Then one day in a fight he was knocked down. I guess, lying on the ground and looking up the guy's robe or whatever, he saw the man had a hairy perineum.

No. 57

"Beware the man with a hairy perineum."

iyyāka wa-ahlaba l-ʿaḍraṭ

This means don't be overconfident.

There's a story that goes with it:

—On this world—

It deceives those who live there
like a dream deceives a lover.

Its pleasure does ease pain—
and contemplating it wakes you from slumber.

Life's suffering and rest in death: its
existence and nothingness dwell close together.

—Ibn Nubātah al-Saʿdī (Iraq, d. 1010)