Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Oleg Grabar, The Mediation of Orna-

ment (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992); 

Qazi Ahmad bin Mir Munshi al-Husayni, Gulistan-i 

Hunar, trans. V. Minorsky, Calligraphers and Painters: 

A Treatise by Qadi Ahmad, Son of Mir Munshi (circa 

A.H. 1015/A.D. 1606) (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian 

Institution, 1959); Yasin Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy

(Boulder, Colo.: Shambhala Publications, 1978); Yasser 

Tabbaa,  The Transformation of Islamic Art During The 

Sunni Revival (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 

2001).

call to prayer

  See 

adhan

.

call to prayer

  

127  J

---

camel

The camel is a large humpbacked mammal with 

a long neck that has become the symbol of the 

Arab b

edoUin

 way of life. There are two kinds: the 

dromedary, or one-humped, camel of a

rab

 lands, 

North Africa, i

ran

 and i

ndia

; and the Bactrian, 

or two-humped, camel of Central Asia and parts 

of Iran and a

Fghanistan

. 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 q

Uran

. 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 m

Uhammad

. 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 m

edina

 until it stopped and 

rested, thus determining the site where Muham-

mad would build his home and mosque. Another 

famous dromedary carried a

isha

, Muhammad’s 

widow, during the Battle of the Camel, when she 

and other leading c

ompanions

 

oF

 

the

 p

rophet

 led 

an unsuccessful rebellion against the caliph a

li

ibn

 a

bi

 t

alib

 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 m

ecca

 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

.