Individualism, as a worldview and legal paradigm, is a lie. One of the best proofs of this is the ayah of qisas in which Allah prescribes the killing of a free man in retaliation for a free, a woman for a woman, and
a slave for a slave:

یَـٰۤأَیُّهَا ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُتِبَ عَلَیۡكُمُ ٱلۡقِصَاصُ فِی ٱلۡقَتۡلَىۖ ٱلۡحُرُّ بِٱلۡحُرِّ وَٱلۡعَبۡدُ بِٱلۡعَبۡدِ وَٱلۡأُنثَىٰ بِٱلۡأُنثَىٰۚ فَمَنۡ عُفِیَ لَهُۥ مِنۡ أَخِیهِ شَیۡءࣱ فَٱتِّبَاعُۢ بِٱلۡمَعۡرُوفِ وَأَدَاۤءٌ إِلَیۡهِ بِإِحۡسَـٰنࣲۗ ذَ ٰلِكَ تَخۡفِیفࣱ مِّن رَّبِّكُمۡ وَرَحۡمَةࣱۗ فَمَنِ ٱعۡتَدَىٰ بَعۡدَ ذَ ٰلِكَ فَلَهُۥ عَذَابٌ أَلِیمࣱ

“O you who have believed, prescribed for you is legal retribution for those murdered – the free for the free, the
slave for the slave, and the female for the female. But whoever overlooks from his brother anything, then there
should be a suitable follow-up and payment to him with good conduct. This is an alleviation from your Lord and a
mercy. But whoever transgresses after that will have a painful punishment.”

2:178

Tribes or extended families are, to a large extent, responsible for the actions of individuals. This is a much more sustainable form of governance, because it provides a low resource means of policing and social support based on the ties of kinship. Periods of civilizational decline like the one we live in are typically characterized by political fracturing, whereby larger political structures break up into smaller pieces. As blocs of power break apart, the small bits in between them are filled by tribes and gangs. With time, gangs become tribes.

Western individualism tries to portray punishing an individual for a crime committed by another member of their group as immoral. Yet in the US, for example, it is well understood among prison gangs that if someone from one gang kills someone from another gang, retaliation can be carried out against any member of the offending gang. This dynamic is visible throughout creation, and it is a natural tendency toward equilibrium.

The liberal worldview propagates the idea that we have somehow “evolved” beyond this perfect equilibrium, and no longer need it. This is a false promise from Satan, who promises that we can be free from hunger, poverty, and disease. Yet it is through hardship that we sense our weakness and become aware of our need for Allah. In other words, Satan wants to remove from us that which causes us to turn to Allah, so that we neglect the remembrance of Allah and think of ourselves as self-sufficient.

The idea that modern norms entail less violence, illness, or hardship is an illusion. The liberal world order has not reduced violence, poverty, or hunger. They have simply shifted to larger forms of organization where violence and misery are either hidden, transferred or deferred. Collective punishments still exist, but they have only been abstracted to the level of nation-states, as most tribes have now been subsumed by nations.

For example, Europe can be militarily weak because it is in a very tight alliance with America. Europe, for its part, focuses on social aspects of securing continued Western dominance on the global level, and so it seems to be less violent. The United States and Europe are two organs in the world system, each with its unique function.

The NATO treaty which formalizes the alliance between Europe and the US states that “an attack on one member of the treaty will be considered as an attack on all.” Multiple NATO members attacked Afghanistan in response to the destruction of the two towers of New York, and engaged in violence on a massive scale against people who, for the most part, had nothing to do with the attack. This was retaliation against the Muslims of Afghanistan and a clear punishment based on association.

Like international treaty organizations, khilafa is a form of superorganization. Zakat is the blood of the body of this organization, and the bait al mal (treasury) under the administration of the khalifa is the heart through which the blood flows. With no heart, there is no life in the body. We can see the reality of this in the hadith:

عَنْ النُّعْمَانِ بْنِ بَشِيرٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَثَلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي تَوَادِّهِمْ وَتَرَاحُمِهِمْ وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ مَثَلُ الْجَسَدِ إِذَا اشْتَكَى مِنْهُ عُضْوٌ تَدَاعَى لَهُ سَائِرُ الْجَسَدِ بِالسَّهَرِ وَالْحُمَّى

The Messenger of Allahﷺ said, “The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.”

Sahih al Bukhari, 6011

The deception of individualism is thus the idea that the foot of a transgressor may not be punished for a crime committed by his hand. Allah describes exceeding the boundaries in the sacred months:

فَمَنِ ٱعۡتَدَىٰ عَلَیۡكُمۡ فَٱعۡتَدُوا۟ عَلَیۡهِ بِمِثۡلِ مَا ٱعۡتَدَىٰ عَلَیۡكُمۡۚ

And who exceeds the boundaries against you, exceed the boundaries against them as they exceeded them against you.

2:194

وَلَكُمۡ فِی ٱلۡقِصَاصِ حَیَوٰةࣱ یَـٰۤأُو۟لِی ٱلۡأَلۡبَـٰبِ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ

And there is life for you in qisas, O you who have understanding, that you may have taqwa.

2:179

The use of the word tattaqun is very interesting here. It points to the link between the hudood and taqwa. For example, when we think about committing a sin like zina, we are aware of the hadd. We also know it is an expiation for the sin. This gives us a limited but visceral understanding of the severity of the sin, since we know the punishment in the akhira is more severe than in dunya.

When we contemplate this, it imparts a sense of taqwa to us, as it gives us a feeling for the severity of the consequences of the sin, and the power of Allah’s justice. Every instance of the implementation of the hadd punishments increases our awareness of this reality. There is tremendous benefit and reward associated with carrying out the hadd punishments, and the taqwa that can result from witnessing it is an indication of this blessing.

The situation with qisas is similar. Before a tribe engages in fighting, they all understand that the death of the one from the other tribe could mean the death of any one of them. This is a collective, yet very personal, responsibility. Ultimately, it acts as a very strong and clear deterrent to unnecessary violence.

Thus, both retaliation against transgression and the prescribed, public punishments are clear expressions of mercy. Individualism, as a paradigm, distorts the understanding of this mercy to invert the reality, making mercy seem like cruelty, and injustice seem like mercy.