Individualism

You live among millions of people. Yet, you have dinner alone and suffer alone. Don't worry you're not alone. Millions of peolple are like you. You have hundreds of neighbors you'll never meet. This isn't fiction. This is present now.

We've been convinced that not needing anyone is freedom. We wear loneliness like a badge. Success means emotional independence. Needing someone means failure to us.

Individualism Accourding to Wikipedia

An individual is a single human being as contrasted with a social group or institution. Historically, the word entered English in the 15th century from the Latin individuus, meaning "indivisible" or "inseparable". Before the 17th century, the term did not carry its modern connotation of human separateness and was used primarily in discussions of metaphysics. In political and social philosophy, the individual is the fundamental unit of individualism, which emphasizes the moral worth, autonomy, and freedom of the person.

Modern culture sells a lie: individualism means total freedom, zero connections, self-reliance alone. This is false independence. Philosopher Byung-Chul Han calls it "stimulated freedom". The system doesn't control you outright anymore. It presents its ideals as your freedom, then you police yourself without even knowing it.

True self-determination is different. It's not isolation masquerading as independence. It's interdependence. According to Self-Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan, 2017), true autonomy is a basic psychological need. It's not driven by external pressure or invisible strings. It's driven by your nature. And your nature is social. You need people to truly function.

There's a boundary: radical freedom (cutting all ties, needing no one) versus true freedom (acting autonomously because you have people to rely on). One is isolation. The other is choosing yourself while knowing you're not alone. People aren't meant to lock themselves away and call it liberation. Real freedom is knowing you have connections, that people care about you, and that interdependence isn't weakness. It's the foundation.

Gen Z bought this. The most connected generation is invisible to each other. All networking. No actual connection. But the question is, why aren't they connecting to each other like previous generations, also why is it that they are the most emotionally invested people in mental health and expressing feelings yet they are avoidant.

Individualists refuse to accept societal, religious and cultural values as the ultimate standard for morality. Morality is guided by personal feelings, inner intuition, and life experiences but the problem arises because it allows people to choose the morals, right and wrong, which they are comfortable with. People are naturally more biased and empathetic toward themselves and naturally justify their doings even the wrong doings by pitying their position. When they refuse to accept the objective, socially accepted moral values by the majority or the religion, there creates a void, things no longer are “right or wrong” they become “right for me” moulding the moral values according to their comfort zone, avoiding strict or demanding rules or standards, accepting the rules which feels convenient, harmless to their ease and rejecting the standards that challenges their comfort leading to inconsistent standards ultimately resulting in a weakened morality.

Social media sells loneliness in pretty packaging. You post. People like. You feel seen. You've never been more disconnected. Instagram only knows the fake version of you. Nobody knows the real one. Strength isn't handling everything yourself. It's calling for help. It's being vulnerable enough to need people. Real relationships cure loneliness and anxiety. Being truly known, truly cared for and, truly understood. We're social creatures. Our brains evolved for community. Isolation doesn't make you independent. It makes you fragile. The bravest thing you can do is admit you need people.

You probably have often heard Influencers, European and American authorities, presidents promoting individualistic approach directly or indirectly. It's promoted by administrative and capitalist units because isolated people means more employees, more taxpayers and more consumers competing alone. As individuals prefer their own profit over the community profit, they are better competitors but the entities generating the ultimate profit are the capitalist units, authorities and government. NYC generates $48.4 billion from local taxpayers - about 72-75% of its total budget. (CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance).

As people refuse to follow traditional family life, family time and gatherings as true social connections feel demanding, this creates a void, people will try to fill the void with anything available in their immediate environment to feel fulfilled. The immediate environment consists of restaurants, malls, aesthetic cafes and online shopping, at least for most people. There are hundreds of appealing billboards, expensive restaurants, and shopping plazas selling social status and validation. The average person is bombarded with about 6,000-10,000 ads a day, convincing the consumers that buying every trendy product and garment means self love and self worth. No doubt why millions of people rushed to buy that overpriced soft toy labubu. Consuming is subtly designed and crafted around these perfectly normal human activities and labeled as self love.

Individualism should make society stronger as, the stronger each individual, the stronger the society. But it's correlation with consumerism makes weak people. Desperate people. Superficial people.

Our world is more connected than ever, but thanks to individualism family structure is more crumbled than ever in history. Single-person households and nuclear families (parents and kids) have doubled since 1950, while extended families have virtually disappeared. (Bowling Alone - CS).

The thing that bothers much is that the world is more connected than ever in history but empathy is more fragmented than ever. Radical individualism is not just a thing of some western cities like NYC, Los Angeles, London and Tokyo, we have also internalised it. Have you ever thought why the world, even the Muslim world, is not much bothered about mass destruction and the crisis in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, and Kashmir? Because everyone is too busy in their own individual life, in their own tiny isolated worlds, in their self-centered and self-generated bubbles. Once Nationalism created borders of religion, region and nations for compassion, people grieved for their own but ignored suffering elsewhere but now, thanks to individualism, rather than hundreds of nations we have 8 billion individuals each absorbed in themselves, empathetic toward themselves only, grieving for their own traumas, self pitied but insensitive toward others. The propaganda behind it is to divide people and nations into billion fragments rather than races.

Following World War I, the Ottoman Empire collapsed, and French forces occupied the southern Turkish city of Marash. On October 31, 1919, a group of Muslim women were leaving a public bathhouse when French-Armenian legionnaire soldiers accosted them. One of the soldiers aggressively attempted to tear off a woman's veil, shouting, "This is no longer the land of the Turks, you cannot walk around with a veil in French territory!" When local bystanders rushed to help the screaming women, French soldiers shot and killed an unarmed Turkish man named Çakmakcı Sait. Seeing this, a local milkman and religious figure known as Sütçü İmam pulled out a gun and shot the French soldiers, killing or wounding them. This incident sparked a wave of tension that soon triggered the Battle of Marash, a massive, bloody uprising where local Turkish forces successfully fought and completely expelled the French army from the city. This victory helped ignite the wider Turkish War of Independence, ultimately leading to the creation of modern-day Turkey.

That were us, just a few decades in the past, but today look at the same thing, in fact even worse happening to millions of women around the world. Also that’s in free countries, never looked at “non-free” places? Like Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan and Kashmir and many others? In Sudan, a forgotten war has claimed over 150,000 lives and uprooted 13 million people. In Palestine, 70% of the verified dead are women and children, with over 38,000 women and girls killed. Across Lebanon, Syria, and Kashmir, thousands more are systematically crushed by geopolitical crossfire. Whether through violence at home or the bombs of war. And we don't even know about these numbers, so the obvious question becomes why? What changed in us that previously wasn’t just there? Well an obvious answer becomes we are made self centered we are told that only thing that truly matters is Your satisfaction, Your peace, Your success, Your life Your comfort, so people live by the mentality that if an issue doesn't affect them then it's not their problem and they shouldn't destroy their mental peace for it.

Individualism isn't just ideology. It's biology. When you choose yourself over others' expectations, your brain chemistry shifts. Take career pressure: family demands one path, expectations weigh heavy, guilt lingers. The conflict spikes cortisol. But the moment you make your choice, one true to you, cortisol drops. Serotonin stabilizes you. You feel normal again. Then dopamine surges: confidence, motivation, freedom, growth. This isn't psychological comfort dressed as science. Your nervous system and hormones are literally rewiring themselves. Individualism isn't all in your head. It's in your bloodstream. It's all interconnected.

We should choose ourselves where it is necessary, doing what is right is more important than doing what you like, keeping this in mind, do whatever is best for you, and as far as society is concerned, you should not let anyone, even yourself, stopping you from doing the beneficial job for the society and yourself. Pushing back your desires and being afraid of what others will say directly affects your body. Your body cannot forget, it stores trauma, every let go, every turmoil that you face with a smile to keep others happy and satisfied is being stored into your body. According to recent studies by Stanford university 80% of autoimmune diseases in women are caused by social factors. So the conclusion is that if you're doing it for others it will only benefit them and you'll be punished for not choosing yourself.

Radical individualism has nurtured self centeredness in people, people feel like they are free from societal standards and family demands but in reality it makes them worship themselves and social standards. ISAPS reports that Total surgical and non-surgical procedures increased by 40% from 2020. Aesthetic procedures were close to 38 Million in 2024. That is proof that obsessive self centredness has increased which ultimately gives rise to insecurities as people try to transform into “ideal version of themselves”. People try to mold themselves into beauty and standards created by trends naming it “Self care” Which is just like a honey trap, chasing self satisfaction but ending up making themselves a slave to unusual beauty standards.

The hyper individualistic and egoistic approach, makes “yourself” the most important entity in the world, and the most important goal in life is your ego, your satisfaction, your peace and your choice and makes everything else secondary has an aspect that matches with The modern satanism. You probably have watched reels on trending statements like “If it makes you happy it's not a waste of time” Love yourself. Follow your desires. Do whatever makes “You” happy. Your truth is the only truth. The first of the 9 postulates of satanism is “Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence”. Here abstinence means holding back oneself from an act or anything which is not considered good morally, for health, or is generally prohibited by society or by religion. And indulgence means allowing yourself to live by desires, chasing pleasure free from boundaries and inhibiting self-control and living a guilt free life for your own pleasure and gratification as “You only line once”. Satan represents all of the so called sins as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification.

Islam doesn't choose between the individual and community. It demands both. You have rights. But you're also commanded to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with others.

Islam presents a beautiful balance between the individual and the community, neither neglecting personal responsibility and individual accountability, as Holy QURAN says that,

nor encouraging selfish isolation. Islam encourages self-development and considering one's financial profit and health as The Prophet ﷺ said:

while dismantling every string of egoistic and radical individualism, portraying it not only socially destructive, but also spiritually corrosive.

Think of it, when Adam(as) was in Jannah, there was every bounty and luxury there we could possibly think of, everything to bring happiness and fulfillment but, still Allah created Hawwa(as) and the reason he described is

That means even in paradise Adam (as), the very first human, required a companion to be happy and fulfilled. It's a reminder that we are not designed to live in isolation, fulfillment comes not only from luxuries but from companionship. Allah says:

Compassion and mercy. Not isolation, not selfishness, not the worship of your own desires.

Individualism names self centeredness, self love which gives birth to egoistic approach, and an egoist prefers his own comfort over relationships, connections, societal responsibilities and ultimately morals as morals also become subjective in Individualism, at the end an egoist essentially worships his own desires, which is a subtle form of Shirk (associating partners with Allah). Allah says in the Qur'an:

Your individual responsibility is real. But responsibility doesn't stop at yourself. True strength is interdependence. Though socialising is annoying sometimes, Islam doesn't negate the frustration caused by irritating behaviour of people, neither It suggests you detach from society rather It teaches SABR, and Allah the most compassionate offers a great reward on that. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

Being truly known. Being truly cared for. Being truly connected. In an individualistic society, there is financial and career competence among individuals competing for their own profit of profit of community but Islam focuses on collective life rather than individualistic society where everyone is concerned about their own good rather than collective and societal wellbeing.

The Prophet of Allah commanded believers:

The Prophet ﷺ then said that a

Selflessness is nothing but stupidity according to individualism (specially the radical individualism) but Islam explicitly ties it as a necessary condition for IMAN. The authentic hadiths we have cited make it clear that true Iman requires a heart that expands to include others, that loves for them what it loves for itself, and that actively works for the good of the community. The believer is not an isolated island of piety but a member of a body, when one part suffers, the whole feels it. It was narrated by Anas (RA) that: The Messenger of Allah [SAW] said: