في الرد على معاوية

[4] The meaning is that the person who goes too far in counselling others will be thought to have his personal ends in so doing, even though his counsel may well be based on sincerity of intention and selflessness. This line is used as a proverb on such occasions. The whole couplet runs as follows: How often a good counsel I offered you, but sometimes the only reward a counsellor reaps is suspicion