«عُرْجِ الْجَمَلْ مِنْ شِفِّتُهْ»

The image is of a camel that wanders into cultivated plots and grazes on the crops. The farmers drive it off with blows, and it comes away lame. Its injury traces back to its lip, which stands for its appetite for what was not its to eat.

Applied to people, the saying marks harm that someone has brought upon themselves. It points to the person's own conduct, often greed or intrusion, as the real cause of their suffering. It denies them the excuse of blaming bad luck or other people.

Use it when someone's trouble stems directly from their own habits or appetites, such as meddling, overreaching, or taking what is not theirs. Because it blames the sufferer, it can sound reproachful rather than sympathetic when said to that person, and it does not suit genuine misfortune.