If a camel saw its own hump it would fall down and break its neck.
If a camel saw its own hump it would rip it off.
-Egyptian proverbs
These proverbs fall under the category of “Hypocrisy and False Appearances” in Aquilina’s dictionary. I don’t see why- as if the very thing that gives a camel its distinctive look, the “big swinging…” equivalent of a peacock’s tail or lion’s mane, should also be its cause of shame. A swollen sanaam is as desirable atop a bull camel as a swollen zibr is beneath a bull. It’s what a camel dealer first squeezes when he’s eyeing a purchase in the market. Humps don’t lie even after having been sat upon for forty days on the trail. You can trim its hair or dye it henna red, but if a hump is dried out and lists sideways, there is no fooling KhairAllah. Al-hudba baayza, the hump is no good, he will say. Best to ride another.