What It Meant To Be Insignificant

Iffat Mirza, Cambridge

This last Ramadan I had invited some old school friends to break our fast together and have dinner. As we discussed our plans for the rest of the year, events that we had looked forward to for months, tickets bought a year ago, or celebrations coming up, one issue kept coming up: ‘I don’t feel right about it…how can I be having fun and going about my normal day when I know what is happening in the world?’

We all gave each other half-hearted comforts regarding this, reminding each other that the world doesn’t stop, and multiple things can exist at the same time, that we’re all doing our small part to stand for justice and for what is right. But we all knew that these were just comfort blankets for ourselves and quite frankly, I don’t think any of us were convinced by what we were saying.

What does one do when with every click, every scroll, and every conversation we are reminded of the destruction and death taking place in our world? How do our infinitely feeble and insignificant brains comprehend that while we may be living on the same planet, we are living worlds away from our Palestinian brothers and sisters? Or those living in the DRC? Sudan? Haiti? Why is it that at the end of the day I can crawl into my warm bed and a child thousands of miles away from me wonders if he will make it through to the next morning alive?

And how do I go about my life, knowing that not only does injustice exist and as much as I may want to, as an individual, there is in fact, very little that I can do to fix anything?

Back in school, when I studied history, I would often wonder about the ordinary person who we will never read about nor remember in our textbooks. How did they react to extraordinary world events? Did their lives stop? Did people continue with their laundry the same day Britain announced it was going to war with Germany in 1939? Did they tap their pencil against their temple as they puzzled through a crossword as they would have any other night? Did some other girls get together over dinner and have any similar conversations to the one I did a few weeks ago? Did they feel insignificant too?

Insignificance has most often been a very comforting feeling. I like knowing that ultimately my choices, thoughts, and feelings are of little importance to the universe at large. Not to sound flippant, but it alleviates some of the pressure one can put themselves under. However, in this case, there is a crushing weight of the feeling of insignificance. I used to find it comforting that when I’d step out and stare at the night sky, that feeling of infinite tininess would engulf me and I’d know that the stars don’t care about me. I used to like that that the stars didn’t care about me.

But now I think I was very wrong to think that. Though we feel insignificant against the universe, it is also of some significance that despite our tininess, we still exist. Our actions do matter and we can do something. ‘Insignificance’ is no longer a comfort, but rather it feels like a cop-out. Like it’s an excuse to allow injustices and oppression to happen. My heart was soothed as I heard His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad (May Allah be his Helper), the Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, address this in his Eid Sermon this year. As many Muslims around the world would have felt, there was a sense of sorrow underlying our Eid celebrations. It was, thus, an important reminder for us all when his Holiness stated:

While we are celebrating Eid here, there are those for whom cruel people have made the earth so difficult that they don’t even have a roof over their heads, let alone food to eat. So, while we seek forgiveness for ourselves and remain grateful to Allah Almighty, we should also remember these deprived people in our prayers. May the Allah Almighty ease their hardships and save them from the torment that is engulfing them.[1]

As His Holiness reminds us, there is no celebration where there is a wilful ignorance of others’ suffering. There is no joy where there can be no compassion. After all, compassion is of the utmost importance in Islam. It is only through basic compassion that we can see a shift in attitudes towards world problems. I do like to believe, that despite our insignificance, that compassion triumphs over selfish and worldly desires. Now, more than ever, is the time to shift our nature to that of a compassionate one. It is time for our actions and our words to be motivated by nothing but a compassion of the purest form.

Yes, while it may be true that there is little that can be done from when we are sat so many thousands of miles away, and whilst we must acknowledge that the barriers towards justice are structural and systemic, it is through creating a local, national, and global attitude of compassion that we can stop making excuses for the selfish and destructive desires that powerful leaders have. It is through the categorical rejection of such desires, and the prioritisation of compassion and empathy, that eventually the popular will of compassion becomes the norm.

[1] https://www.pressahmadiyya.com/press-releases/2024/04/head-of-the-ahmadiyya-muslim-community-delivers-eid-ul-fitr-sermon-from-islamabad/