God, ants, and circuitous destruction

Annals of the South African Museum / Creative Commons

“إذا أراد ربنا هلاك نملة أنبت لها اجنحة

If God desired the destruction of an ant he would grant it wings.”

In practice: those elevated to positions above their abilities bring about their own downfall.[1]

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[1] This expression first came to me from Tarif Khalidi, but it can be found in J.L. Burckhardt, Arabic Proverbs … (London, 1830), 4.