“Evil has appeared on Land and Sea because of what the Hands of Men have earned ...” (Surah Al Roum 30; Verse 41, The Holy Qur’an)

Dead at 26, due to a strange type of ovarian cancer...Consumed at the age of 3 by a rare form of leukemia... Under remission or dying at 19, from an unusual brain tumor... Wherever I go these days, I hear of some sort or another of a malignancy ravaging the body of the young and the defenseless. What is going on?

Disease has always been part of the human experience. There is no denying this fact, but pervasive mutations of cell DNA, resulting in the big C (cancer) and its prevalence, can only be related to one major contaminant: radioactive material.

I still remember the time when cancer was such a rare occurrence that it shocked and shook the whole community. Nobody dared pronounce the “C” word at the time; let alone spread its news or inform the patient. But then again, its attacks were rare and restricted to the elderly and the middle-aged; hardly ever on the young. What is going on? The subject requires a serious visit and a think-over: “Why is this happening to us now? Why is it in such an obvious frequency and so deadly? And why is it attacking in such a discriminating fashion?”

Can it be that we are reaping the fallout of the depleted uranium used during the 1991 Gulf War of Desert Storm? Could it be that such toxic chemicals were buried somewhere in our soil? If not, then where and how were they disposed of? Could the residue of radioactive material have seeped through to the water-table? Could this toxic leftover have imperceptibly contaminated our body systems, provoking cancer-causing mutations to our cells and vandalizing our bodies, while we are oblivious of such attacks and internal devastations?

Because of our submissive nature to the will of Allah, most of us accept the slow and tormenting deaths of our youth, but deep inside us we wonder if such a disease is truly God-sent or man-provoked as Allah stated it in the Qur’an (read title: Surah Al-Roum; Verse 41). Without questioning the ill-fate of our children, we shall continue to suffer and lose more precious lives. Without investigating and testing our waters, our soil, and the air we breathe, we shall continue to succumb to the disease and hear more of it and its fatalities...but until when do we keep silent?

Why do we remain complacently voiceless, while a looming nuclear disaster is eagerly waiting to erupt in the Gulf area? Instead of celebrating Earth Day on April 22 with a couple of flowers here or a tree there, we must prevent this clear and upcoming danger of a potential nuclear catastrophe striking at us, our children, and our habitat. Superpowers claim that bombing would be “swift” and “surgical.” But!!! How can radioactive material be contained and not mushroom and spread widely into the atmosphere. Such a calamity will surely kill and infect thousands and millions of innocents, their children, and babies? Radioactive explosions and their aftermath are still fresh in the memory of many! Are we going to sit resigned to the “rule of the jungle” and wait for it to happen again?

We, the people of the Middle East and citizens of this precious Earth, should stand united against such catastrophic aggressions against humanity. When disasters happen without our knowledge, shame would be on the aggressors, but when we bless it with our silence and complacency, then shame would be on us!

The Holy Qur’an warns us, “...And do not throw yourselves into destruction [by your own hands]...” (Surah Al-Baqarah; Verse 195). Let us, instead, join hands, voices, and hearts to celebrate the bounties of Mother Earth by protecting, conserving, and respecting her the way Our Creator wants us to and not by contaminating and destroying her and her innocent residents. We should work at preserving our habitat, its resources, wealth, and inhabitants: humans, fauna, and flora alike. Please, let us make our voices heard. May the Almighty have mercy on us if we do not act!!!

(Mariam A. Alireza is a holistic science specialist. Send comments to [email protected].)