Don’t Lose Your Brother

A tyrant king ordered the execution of a woman’s male relatives: brother, husband, and son. She pleaded for mercy, so the king allowed one of them to be spared, and gave her the choice to choose one of them.

She thought deeply and then said:

‎الزوج موجود
‎والابن مولود
‎والأخ مفقود
“Husbands are MAWJOOD (other men exist to marry),
Sons can be MAWLOOD (born),
But a brother is MAFQOOD (missing/irreplaceable – her mother can no longer give birth to another child).”

So, she choose her brother…

The king was so impressed by her intelligent answer that he spared them all. This then became a proverb, which means: don’t let go of something irreplaceable for something that is replaceable.