camel
The camel is a large humpbacked mammal with
a long neck that has become the symbol of the
Arab bedoUin way of life. There are two kinds: the
dromedary, or one-humped, camel of arab lands,
North Africa, iran and india; and the Bactrian,
or two-humped, camel of Central Asia and parts
of Iran and aFghanistan. The dromedary was
originally from Arabia and was domesticated by
2500 b.c.e. It was essential for the subsistence of
Arab nomadic tribes, who used it for transport,
clothing, and food. Because of its strength and
ability to traverse great distances, the Arabs have
called it “the ship of the desert.” It is mentioned
in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and
the qUran. Historical evidence indicates that the
camel gradually replaced preexisting wheeled
forms of transport in the Middle East after the first
century c.e. as a result of the growing influence
of camel-herding Arab traders on the economy
of the cities and the animal’s efficiency in desert
transportation and warfare. These developments
may actually have caused changes in the layouts
of Middle Eastern cities, where the straight streets
of the ancient Roman era gave way to narrow and
winding ones during the Middle Ages.
Camels were a favorite subject for the pre-
Islamic Arab poets, but among the most legend-
ary ones were the she-camels of Salih, an early
Arabian prophet, and mUhammad. Salih’s camel
was miraculously brought forth from a rock to
prove to the people of Thamud (in northwest-
ern Arabia) that Salih was a prophet. The camel
provided abundant milk for the people, some of
whom became Muslims, but others who refused
to believe slaughtered the camel and threatened to
kill Salih. According to early Islamic stories, God
destroyed them for their disbelief as a consequence.
The Quran also tells a short version of this story
(Q 7:72–79, 11:61–68). Muhammad’s she-camel,
according to early biographical accounts, was
allowed to wander in medina until it stopped and
rested, thus determining the site where Muham-
mad would build his home and mosque. Another
famous dromedary carried aisha, Muhammad’s
widow, during the Battle of the Camel, when she
and other leading companions oF the prophet led
an unsuccessful rebellion against the caliph ali
ibn abi talib in 656.
Because the camel chews its cud but does not
have cloven hoofs, its meat is forbidden by Jew-
ish dietary law. This is not the case in Islamic law.
However, camel meat is not eaten as often as mut-
ton because the animal is more valuable as a beast
of burden and as a source of milk. In some areas,
such as the Nile Valley, it is used for plowing fields
and other agricultural tasks. Camels also serve as
sacrificial animals for Islamic holidays and saint
festivals. Muslim rulers from the 13th century
until the 20th century would send a camel-borne
palanquin to mecca as a symbol of their author-
ity during the annual haJJ. The camel is still a
popular theme in Egyptian pilgrimage murals and
folk art.
See also dietary laWs; horse.Further reading: Richard W. Bulliet, The Camel and the
Wheel (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1975); Gordon Darnel Newby, The Making of the Last
Prophet (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press,
1989).Camp David accords
The Camp David accords were signed by Egyptian
president anWar al-sadat, Israeli prime minis-
ter Menachem Begin, and U.S. president Jimmy
Carter on September 17, 1978, and created a
general framework for Israeli withdrawal from
the Sinai Peninsula, taken by israel in 1967, in
exchange for a formal peace treaty between the
two countries. The 13 days of negotiations medi-
ated by the U.S. president were notoriously acri-
monious, and the two negotiating teams were held
virtual prisoners at the U.S. presidential retreat at
Camp David, Maryland, until they reached agree-
ment. Even in the hours leading up to the official
televised signing ceremony, Begin balked at put-K 128 camel