The Islamic 
  Herald

Insignificance


by Shabier Raffee

Editor-in-Chief of The Islamic Herald

On a recent plane trip, I looked down from my window seat at the world below. The houses, people and cars slowly grew smaller until they were nothing more than mere specks of color that could hardly be seen. Even the skyscrapers of New York City looked as if they were mere toys. This made me think about human significance.

How significant are human beings really? From the sky we are nothing more than specks. We cannot even be seen from space. The earth too, our vast land and oceans that seem never-ending, is only a tiny planet in our vast solar system. And our enormous solar system belongs to a gargantuan galaxy, the Milky Way. The Milky Way, too, is only one of many galaxies. Even our sun, which seems to be the biggest, hottest object in our solar system is but one of billions of other stars. How can we as humans feel important when we are so tiny in comparison to the universe. The gargantuan universe, like everything, was created by the Almighty Allah. Thus, to Him the mighty universe is also but small.

When Muslims pray to Allah, or we feel that we are tiny, insignificant servants of God, or do we feel as if we are doing Allah a favor by praying? Despite being insignificant as humans are, each being still has family that loves them, memories they cherish, and experiences they treasure. Each life seems unique, but five billion other people also have lives just like us and each is just as unique as our own. This makes life very precious. This life itself is insignificant in terms of the next life. This world, its possessions and everything it contains is but only a link in an eternal chain which will start after the Day of Judgment.

The beauty of life, however, is that even though we are minute creations of Allah, we are still significant to Him. Our actions are significant as well. These actions determine whether we will live a better, more significant life in the hereafter. Allah endowed us with life, wealth, happiness, and a way of life. If we follow His orders laid down in the Qur'an we will one day spend the eternal life in bliss close to Allah. That is the greatest significance of all.


From The Islamic Herald, September 1995.
Copyright © 1995 The Islamic Herald. All rights reserved.
The Islamic Herald / herald@ais.org