What proverbs about wealth, justice, patience, and kinship teach us about living well

“Adduunyo waa hanti iyo hadhkiisa”—worldly life is wealth and its shifting shade. In a few words, this Somali proverb offers an image anyone can recognize: shade is precious beneath a fierce sun, yet it never stays still. As the day advances, it moves, shrinks, and disappears. Wealth, status, comfort, and hardship behave much the same way.

Somali proverbs, or maahmaah, are compact stores of practical philosophy. Shaped by pastoral life, oral tradition, faith, and communal responsibility, they do more than decorate conversation. They advise, warn, console, and help settle disputes. Their recurring lesson is simple but demanding: circumstances change, character matters, justice cannot be ignored, and no one survives alone.

Wealth Is Shelter, Not Certainty

In “Adduunyo waa hanti iyo hadhkiisa,” the key word hanti can mean wealth, property, possessions, or livestock, while hadh means shade. The comparison is not a rejection of prosperity. Shade is useful—even lifesaving. The warning is against mistaking temporary shelter for permanent ownership.

Good fortune can arrive quickly and leave just as fast. That truth checks arrogance when life is abundant and offers comfort when it is not.........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)