Will We Ever Break Free from Western Influence on Our Minds?

Assalamu Alaikum. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about this, and it’s left me feeling kind of hopeless, honestly. We’re caught in this system-both from the outside and inside-that many of us don’t even notice. I might be wrong, I really might be, but it feels like as Muslims, we can’t ever get out of it. We’re being controlled by the West from the outside, and we’re even doing it to ourselves from the inside. How can we truly follow Islam and thrive when the system itself breaks down our thinking, our view of reality, and how we understand that reality? Just look at globalization, international organizations, ideas about universal rights, gender stuff-everything comes from a Western, Eurocentric perspective. This isn’t just history; it’s a new form of colonization. They keep control over us through both soft influence and outright force, like economic policies from Western banks or military power. Yeah, they’ve done some good things, I won’t deny that. But in the end, we’re trapped by their cultural dominance. We see things and think about reality exactly how they want us to, because it supports their system and makes their lifestyle seem like the only normal way. Modern ideas about rights, philosophy, and reality all come from Western thought, the Enlightenment, and industrial-era values. They push capitalism and extreme individualism as if it’s just how things are. But we’re a community-focused Ummah, not hyper-individualistic. Still, we’re adopting their ways when it comes to how we view personhood, consent, roles in the family, and our daily life, and we’re getting completely confused in the process. Because of this, we see our own traditions and Islamic teachings as outdated or wrong when they’re not. We only see them the way the West wants us to, under the name of “progress.” Even the word “modern” is tied to colonization-it’s a path of development made by them, for them. This doesn’t fit with our deen at all. But we’re getting more and more stuck in this system. Are we just becoming servants to the West? I can’t even understand Islam without my mind being filtered through the narrow lens the West has shaped. That’s from soft power-being online, watching their media, living in schools and systems built on their ideas, even in my own country. The things we think are issues in our religion, the things that make us uncomfortable... are those really our own thoughts? Or are we shaped to see them that way? Even language matters-English, for example, changes how we perceive things. I really believe culture shapes the mind. Social influence shapes the mind. Language shapes the mind. Our minds, bodies, psychology, community, culture, language, and environment are all connected in one big system. But the Western system doesn’t work for us. To use their tools, you have to break your own system. We’re stuck in a loop of thoughts and ideas they created, and it’s dangerous because we can’t see the outside system trapping us or our own internal biases. It’s like colonizing our own minds. It’s no surprise that so many Muslims in the early modern era became defensive and tried to fit into this so-called “modern” world. We got scared and felt we had to adapt. Because the West has won, at least in this way. As a result, we might stay struggling forever. Their system just doesn’t work with our Islamic way of life. We’ll keep being absorbed and made dependent, waiting to be used. Am I wrong to feel so defeated? How do I even get out of this? How can our Ummah escape? I feel like I’m stuck in mud, not knowing if I’m being overly worried or if I just have to live with it because the system can’t change. JazakAllah khair for reading.