28.11.2021
Question: Self love and individualism in light of the Qur’ān and Sunnah.
We know that the society, especially in the west, promotes the concept of ‘individualism’ which is a very egocentric kind of behavior, self centrism – a self centered concept that revolves around ‘me, me, me, it is all about me.’ This gets to the point that we find it becomes very selfish and it is promoted a lot amongst the youth. We hear a lot of youth saying things like ‘self love’ and ‘I gotta love myself.’ They post up meems saying things like, ‘if you do not love yourself then you cannot love anybody else,’ and ‘if you do not love yourself first then you cannot love Allāh and you cannot love your brothers and sisters in Islām.’ We see this even amongst the Muslim youth Allāhul mustaʿān. Is this concept, the whole idea of individualism, putting ourselves first and loving ourselves first and then loving others, is this concept something that we should encourage the youth with? Bārakallāhu fīkum.

Some main points covered in the answer:
• The issue of loving oneself
• The sweetness of faith
• Loving Allāh (عز و جل) and His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) more than we love anything else.
• Analyzing these types of slogans and statements in light of the Qur’ān and Sunnah.