«أَنْ لَيْسَ يُغْنِي عَنْكَ فِي الْمَضَائِقِ، إِلَّا إِذَا فَرَّ فِرَارَ الْآبِقِ»
In hardship, the coin helps you only when it flees from you like an absconding servant.
Maḍāʾiq are constricting situations; ābiq describes a runaway servant. The coin’s 'flight' is an image of its leaving the owner’s possession in payment or giving.
The paradox is deliberately pointed: hoarded money may not solve a problem until it is spent or given away. This reverses the simple assumption that possessing more always means being better off.