By Ahmed A Hussein, Association of Somali Agricultural Professionals (ASAP)
Wednesday September 30, 2026
I grew up knowing the camel. Long before I ever opened a textbook, I saw with my own eyes how this magnificent creature holds the entire universe of the Somali nomad together. In our arid and semi-arid lands of Somalia home to the world’s largest camel population—where the sun bakes the earth and water is more precious than gold—the camel (geel) is not simply livestock. It is our survival, our mobility, our bank account, and our pride (gobnimo).
The Somali Experience Our elders passed down a rich, living science (aqoon-daqameed) that taught us how to harness every blessing the camel offers. When severe droughts (Abaar) dry up the wells and cause other livestock to perish, the female camel (Hal) continues to produce sweet, nourishing milk. It yields a complete biological food—rich in water, fat, and essential nutrients—that keeps entire families alive without needing any other food or drink. Through generations of keen observation, our pastoralists learned to guide herds toward specific saline shrubs (Galool ama loo yaqaan Cag- lo) and deep-rooted Acacia trees (Caday) to naturally enrich the milk's mineral and water content.
Beyond our cultural heritage The Quranic perspective
Our Holy Qur'an taught us the deeper spiritual truth and miracles of the camel. We were raised reading the sacred verses that elevate this animal from a humble desert companion to a living sign (Ayah) of divine mercy and supreme intelligence In Surah Al-Ghashiyah (88:17), Allah issues a direct challenge to human intellect: "Do they not look at the camels, how they are created?" Our faith taught us that the camel’s ability to endure extreme heat and carry heavy loads across impassable terrains was not an accident, but a manifestation of God’s kindness (a'fah), as highlighted in Surah An-Nahl (16:7): "And they carry your loads to a land you could not have reached except with great difficulty to yourselves." In the story of the Prophet Salih (peace be upon him), the She-Camel of Allah (Naqatullah) was given to the people of Thamud as a divine miracle, granted a sacred right to share local water sources ("a time of drink" in Surah Ash-Shu'ara 26:155). This taught us early lessons of environmental balance, animal welfare, and eco-stewardship—showing us that the camel is a sacred trust meant to be treated with reverence and gratitude.
The Scientific Discovery
Now, as I study modern science, I am amazed to learn that recent scientific discoveries are unveiling the exact molecular and biological mechanics behind the miracle of the camel.
What our ancestors knew through intuition and what the Qur'an revealed through divine inspiration is now being confirmed in advanced laboratories around the world Biochemists and geneticists have discovered that the camel is a marvel of evolutionary engineering. Its red blood cells are uniquely oval rather than round, allowing them to flow smoothly even when its blood thickens during extreme dehydration, and expanding up to 240% without bursting when it drinks over 100 liters of water in minutes. Scientists have mapped its dynamic body temperature (heterothermy), showing how it suppresses sweating by letting its core temperature float naturally from 34C ° at night to 41C ° during peak daytime heat. When researchers analyzed camel milk, they discovered a self-preserving biological miracle: packed with unique single-domain antibodies (nanobodies), lactoferrin, and lysozymes that actively destroy harmful bacteria at ambient temperatures of 40C° Unlike cow’s milk—which requires immediate industrial refrigeration, pasteurization, or conversion into hard cheese and butter just to prevent rapid spoilage and lethal bacterial contamination— camel milk is complete as nature made it. It requires no complex processing or artificial modifications. It contains three to five times more Vitamin C than cow’s milk, lacks heavy allergen proteins, and features small, easily digestible fat globules that deliver instant, effortless hydration and nutrient absorption directly to the gut. Even its byproducts require no technology: its manure is expelled nearly dry due to efficient intestinal water reabsorption, providing an instant, low-smoke fuel for cooking fires in treeless plains When you bring these three streams of knowledge together, a profound harmony emerges.
Our traditional nomadic wisdom, our foundational Qur'anic teachings, and the latest scientific breakthroughs all point to the exact same reality: the camel is a completely unique, divinely designed miracle.
Nature engineered this creature so perfectly that it overcomes the extreme hostility of the desert without needing artificial human systems to patch its vulnerabilities. It stands as a selfsustaining life-support system—designed by God to thrive in otherwise barren lands while delivering complete, uncompromised nourishment, protection, and hydration to its young and to the human herders who depend on it for their very existence.
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About the author: Ahmed Hussein, New Business Development expert in Agro-processing and Agribusiness with extensive international experience. A qualified Food Scientist (master from Cornell University) and a Food Processing Engineer (Master from University of Toronto)
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Tel: +1-678-646897
