The worth of a human life?

It is impossible not to draw comparisons and similarities between the ‘Titan’, a submersible tourist ship for the super-rich to visit the Titanic wreck, and the capsized unbranded boat which was carrying more than 600 migrants and refugees on a hugely risky journey for a chance at a better life for them and their families – both lost at sea, but with vastly different resources, exposure and emotions committed to their assistance and rescue.

The difference comes from answering the question; how do we derive worth of a person? Because how you answer will influence your actions to immigrants, migrants and refugees.

The constant barrage of media hype and government spin has made it heresy to even question the flawed nature of an economic system which puts bankers ahead of food banks, benefit cuts ahead of pursuing tax evading global conglomerates and millionaires, and allows multi-million-pound homes owned by foreigners to be left empty while foreign immigrants of a lower net-worth sleep rough on the streets.

This is due to these categories of people being deemed as having poor or negligible economic value, in the West, your worth is derived from your perceived economic value which in turn is your contribution to society.

Why do you think it was reported that the UK government had the audacious plan to delay their reaction to the covid pandemic so it can kill off more elderly people, it was because that section of society is a net-negative economically speaking to society, they are a burden for the state and their children whose working lives they affect. All because their value is sought from their economic value only, which is the idea that western societies push.

The individual is more important than the collective, and amongst those individuals, the most precious are those who possess the most wealth, that is why we saw tens and hundreds of millions devoted to the search and rescue of a handful of millionaires and billionaires as opposed to the forced capsizing of more than 600 men woman and children.

The Prophet (saw) showed us the best example of how to view the worth of a person, of how we must view immigrants, he and Islam didn’t see them as a burden, but a path to a harmonious and better society.

It was demonstrated with the Ansar and Muhajireen, the best aid was that of the Ansar (helpers) towards the Muhajireen (emigrants) who had left Mecca to come for a better life in the first Islamic state.

This was the case because their thinking was not based on economic benefit or the need for labour but due to the command of Allah (swt), and the rewards that would obey and the consequences for those who would disobey.

Islamic history is full of situations in which Muslims and non-Muslims moved within the borders of the Khilafah and fully integrated into society.

All of these examples show that true worth which resonates with human nature can only be obtained by viewing the issue not through the Capitalistic lens of benefit but the Islamic lens of morality and obligation to the creator, which woefully is shown in more and more examples and time goes on.