Indifference Is Extreme Insolence

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam

2 September 2022

When Shias Die En Masse In Pakistan, It Doesn't Prick Our Conscience Because We Think, Why Should We Care For People Belonging To A Particular Sect Of A 'Different Religion' Dying Far Away?

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Hate me if you cannot love

But never stay indifferent

For, love and hate are still emotions

Alas, indifference is like a blank firmament

- Najm al-Din Kubra, a 13th-century Sufi, translated by Ogden MaCabe

'The eerie silence of indifference hurts more than the clamour of hatred.' I read this line somewhere and it got registered in my heart and mind. Indifference is indeed much more unbearable than dislike and hatred. Mirza Ghalib wrote, ' Qata Keeje Na Ta'alluq Hum Se/Kuchh Nahin Hai Toh Adavat Hi Sahi ' (Don't sever all ties with me/ At least, let enmity stay...). When you dislike or hate someone, somewhere you're still associated with that person. But when you're indifferent to someone, that individual ceases to exist for you.

Indifference reduces an individual to a non-entity and a persona non-grata. Indifference wipes out a person's existence. It has the irreversibility of death and it closes all the doors and options. It's not just the complete absence of communication but absence of emotions. Ignoring a person is more hurtful than abusing him/her. Human beings love to react. However hard we may try not to react, there're tell-tale signs of our propensity to react. And when this natural human tendency is curbed and a person goes beyond action and reaction, we feel hurt, especially the person at the receiving end feels more hurt.

Indifference is felt most acutely in a relationship. When two lovers fight, abuse and use invectives for each other, they're still in a relationship. But the moment either of them becomes indifferent, it's difficult for the snubbed lover to bear with his/her partner's total avoidance. The Urdu adage, 'Beneyazi Berukhi Se Badhkar Hoti Hai' (Indifference is worse than curt behaviour) is really true. Turning someone a cold shoulder is far worse than the warm flow of (cuss) words.

Albert Camus beautifully wrote in one of his French existential stories, 'The icy cold dead body and the icy cold behaviour of a friend are the same.' On a broader canvas, the indifference of mankind has allowed the crimes to go on and flourish. It's the collective indifference of the society that a female child is still looked down upon. It's the spiritual insouciance of the followers of a religion to be indifferent to the faiths of others. Indifference is ignorance. To be indifferent is to be ignorant of the plight and predicament of our fellow humans. Indifference is emotional alienation that smacks of arrogance. It relegates the other person to the level of a non-entity. In other words, indifference is extreme insolence and rank intolerance, albeit wordless.

 P B Shelly put it so beautifully in his poem, ' Mutability, '  " Virtue, how frail it is/ Friendship how rare/Love, how it sells poor bliss/For proud despair.” It's our societal indifference that though we shouted and screamed when one Nirbhaya was raped and killed in Delhi on Dec. 16, 2012, we've chosen to remain indifferent to many other Nirbhayas getting killed after being raped. We're indifferent and that's the reason when we witness an accident, we hurriedly leave the place and let the victim die lest we should be questioned by our most corrupt police. We're indifferent to the plight of our fellow human beings because we think that we're not related to them.

When Shias die en masse in Pakistan, it doesn't prick our conscience because we think, why should we care for people belonging to a particular sect of a 'different religion' dying far away? This snug indifference causes lack of empathy and when there's no empathy, how can we live in this world as a big family?  We'll walk on the earth like heartless zombies.

Sahir Ludhianvi wrote to Amrita Pritam, his muse, while parting: Raahein Hamari Juda Ho Bhi Gayeen Agar/ Un Raahon Ko Kabhi Bhoolna Nahin Magar (Even if we part ways/ Don't forget those days). I've taken a proverbial (and also, permissible!) poetic licence while translating this couplet of Sahir. 

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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.

URL:    https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/indifference-extreme-insolence-/d/127860

  

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