Although human beings are created with reason, freedom, and will by
nature, these attributes have been rendered dysfunctional under various
political and religious motivations throughout history. Power mechanisms
and religious groups, as social sub-units, have aimed to integrate
the individual into mass movements without question, thereby suppressing
personal will. This study aims to re-determine the position of the
individual within the framework of Islamic thought and to analyze the
individual/personal nature of religion.
Within the scope of the study, first, the qualities that make a human being
and the place of the individual in society are discussed through philosophical
and religious perspectives. By analyzing the historical development
of the concepts of individual and individualism in Western literature, the
differences between egocentric “individualization”—a result of modernization
and secularization—and the responsible “personality” envisaged by
Islam are examined. It is argued that the Qur’an, the fundamental source
of Islam, aims primarily to build faithful and moral individuals, and subsequently
to establish a society composed of these individuals.
In Islamic teaching, religious responsibility assumes a completely individual
character within the framework of concepts such as faith, prayer,
piety (taqwa), and accountability in the hereafter. The emphasis on
“trust” (amanah) and “caliphate” (khalifa) in the story of Adam is the
fundamental basis of the freedom of will and personal responsibility bestowed
upon human beings. In the final part of the study, the social dimensions
of religious responsibility are evaluated through the principles
of “ummah” and “enjoining good and forbidding evil”; it is discussed
how an individual can build a moral personality through their own free
will without being squeezed between the modern secular world and traditional
oppressive structures. In conclusion, it is revealed that Islam offers
a holistic perspective that takes the individual as the basis and aims
for social peace by establishing an unwavering sense of responsibility.
Keywords: Kalām; Islamic Thought; Human Being; Individual and Personality;
Religious Responsibility