Not because we do not rank the status of people in our lives, which we certainly do, unintentionally and intentionally
Many sports like Golf and Tennis for instance, rank the players on a numerical scale. They have an agreed upon, set of stats that are evaluated. Numerical ranks are assigned based on an athletes’ performance on this scale. Societal status however doesn’t work the same way. Not because we do not rank the status of people in our lives, which we certainly do, unintentionally and intentionally. It is deemed an indecent act to publicize this criterion. This is very much an individual process with influences from our culture and societal groups. How much value should a person’s honesty be given, intelligence, wisdom, demeanor, skills, wealth, physical appearance… the list goes on. Not everybody attaches the same value to each of these criteria. Some cultures regard wealth to be of highest value, followed by other criteria, in a particular order. Looks matter more to others. Some are floored by a persons’ demeanor. Some are in awe of intelligence and wisdom. Skills matter much to certain individuals. Needless to say we all have our own customized set of criteria for ranking everyone in our lives.
وَمَآ أُوتِيتُم مِّن شَىْءٍۢ فَمَتَـٰعُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتُهَا ۚ وَمَا عِندَ ٱللَّهِ خَيْرٌۭ وَأَبْقَىٰٓ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
Al-Qur`an 28:60
Whatever you are given in this life is nothing but a temporary provision of this life and its glitter; what God has is better and more lasting. Will you not then understand?
When we realize our ignorance, we are enlightened
Not only do we rank others but we apply this criteria to our own selves. A way for us to gauge our value when compared to others. We also do this unintentionally and intentionally. There is a separate scale we have to measure the importance of the resultant from this scale. In simple words, not everyone cares the same way about how we compare with our peers. This can also be referred to as self-esteem. So status of our peers, and our status among peers is mostly an individual and a subjective process influenced by our societal experiences. An individual could be your idol whereas the same person might be a nuisance to another. Examining our own selves, we have narcissists on end of the scale and on the other end, individuals with very low self-esteem. It is better for the egotistic to level down as there is no basis for the ego. The one with low self-esteem should level up because failures light our path to success. Without failures success is tasteless. As we can see, all these external and interpersonal valuations are subjective without any objective meaning attached to them. We all need our Creators guidance in our lives to balance these emotions. When we realize our ignorance, we are enlightened.
وَمَا هَـٰذِهِ ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا لَهْوٌۭ وَلَعِبٌۭ ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلدَّارَ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةَ لَهِىَ ٱلْحَيَوَانُ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا۟ يَعْلَمُونَ
Al-Qur`an 29:64
This worldly life is no more than play and amusement. But the Hereafter is indeed the real life, if only they knew
Wealth is often used to determine a persons status in the society. However, wealth doesn’t have any objective value attached to it either. It suffers from the same condition as its parent – i.e. Status. They have a perceived value which can disappear into thin air without a moment’s notice. This condition isn’t just limited to wealth and status. Everything of this world follows the same principles of subjective valuation.
We give value to things, and so they have value
We give value to things, and so they have value. If tomorrow we have shortage of drinking water, we would be willing to trade out of our valuables to accumulate fresh water, for pennies on the dollar, as they say. We saw something similar recently when Coronavirus (Covid-19) came around and the value of personal protective equipment (PPE) surged. A dollar was not enough to buy a mask anymore, same with hand sanitizers etc. Fortunate for the one who had accumulated PPE before and unfortunate for others. Hard earned money had less value all of a sudden. All that extra time and effort exerted to earn an honest living vanished into thin air. This is the subjectivity of our world and we are all its victims.
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن تَزَكَّىٰ وَذَكَرَ ٱسْمَ رَبِّهِۦ فَصَلَّىٰ بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ ٱلْحَيَوٰةَ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةُ خَيْرٌۭ وَأَبْقَىٰٓ
Al-Qur`an 87:14-17
Successful indeed are those who purify themselves, remember the Name of their Lord, and pray. But you prefer the life of this world, even though the Hereafter is far better and more lasting
