A wise enemy is better than a foolish friend.
Arabic proverb
Arabic proverb

“A wise enemy is better than a foolish friend.”

The explanation

What does Arabic proverb mean?

A classical Arabic proverb, and the sting is in what it assumes: that a friend’s foolishness will cost you more than an enemy’s intelligence, because harm from someone who means well is not defended against. It belongs to the same body of counsel as the hadith that a person follows the religion of his close friend.

Written from Written from Al-Mukhtasar fi at-Tafsir and Tafsir Ibn Kathir.

Where it sits