Abstract
<jats:p>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 Quran, 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</jats:p>