1.4 Causes of Decline of the Muslim Ummah

The success of the Muslims to establish a great civilization and become the masters of this world is attributed to Islam which had brought radical and revolutionary changes in Arab societies. The Islamic social order that the prophet had established reflects the inherent soundness of faith and doctrines upon which it was founded. The major factor responsible for the decline of the Muslim Ummah could be generally traced to one factor i.e. being away from the teachings of Islam. If we have to draw a line between the ascent and decline of the Muslim Ummah, we can do it at the date intervening between the Khilafah ar-Rashidah and the emergence of Arab imperialism. It seems that the change was due to the fact that the number of Muslims with a full and proper understanding of the principles of Islam had declined rapidly with the passage of time; so had the proportion of Muslims whose character and conduct were in perfect conformity with tenets and precepts of the faith. On the other hand, the number of the Muslims who did not properly understand the principles increased so enormously that it soon became impossible to save the Muslim society from the harmful effects of their ignorance; deficient understanding and moral weaknesses. Consequently, the Caliphate gave way to kingship, and this phase of our history extended over several centuries.

As the hold of religion weakened, the morality deteriorated rapidly among Muslims. The perverse influences of demoralized attitude of the Caliphs, who were far from being models of Islamic mortality - some of them were positively that reverse of it - was inevitably to affect adversely the moral structure of the society as a whole. Pagan beliefs and practices thus infiltrated into the Muslim society. However, as the basic of religion were concerned they remained intact and free from all distortions. It is highly important to mention in detail some of the causes of this decline. They are as follows:

1.4 Causes of Decline of the Muslim Ummah

1)	Disruption of leadership: the first and the most harmful factor of the Muslim decline is the establishment of

kingship. It was a detrimental system to the interest of Islam and the Muslims. It shirked the duties of the

kings as the upholders of the cause of Islam and confined themselves, more or less, to the conquest of

new lands and the realization of tribute from the conquered people.

During the lifetime of the Prophet (PBUH) and the rightly-guided caliphs the leadership of the Muslim

community was centered at one place. All affairs of life spiritual, moral, intellectual, cultural, political or

philosophical were held and directed by a common authority. The political affairs of the community, the

dispensation of justice, the administration of the state, the conduct of war, all were being organized and

directed from a common center. And the very persons, who controlled all these varied activities, were also

the spiritual, moral and intellectual leaders of the community.

2)	Lack of proper education and spread of ignorance: the second factor responsible for the decline of the

Muslim Ummah is the ignorance/illiteracy towards religion (including all affairs political, social etc). The

people (ignorant) who can't differentiate between what is right and wrong are always ready to accept

every kind of absurdity and when not in a position of having the solution to the queries always become the

target of rivals deception & seduction.

1.4 Causes of Decline of the Muslim Ummah

Conference (OIC) have around 500 Universities compared with more than five thousand universities in the

United States and more than eight thousand in India. In 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an

'Academic Ranking of World Universities' and none of the universities from Muslim-majority states was

included in the top 500. There is only one university for every three million Muslims and the Muslim-majority

countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims. The U.S. has 4,000 scientists per million and Japan

has 5,000 per million. The Muslim world spends 0.2 per cent of its GDP on research and development,

while the western nations spend around five per cent of GDP on producing knowledge.

3)	Decline of Morals/Ethics: The Second factor is the decline or demise of the morals/ethics. We have put

aside the teachings of the Glorious Qur'an regarding good morals which our ancestors had followed thus

established the greatest civilization in the world. This fact is not hidden that as compared to other things

morals & ethics play a greater role in the rise and decline of the nations. Its presence in every nation is

very important. A poet Shauki says: "Nations remains alive until in them remains the morals/ethics alive

and if the morals/ethics degradation starts their existence also starts deteriorating."

1.4 Causes of Decline of the Muslim Ummah

4)	Decline of Leaders and number of scholars: Among the main factors of Muslim decline is the weakness of

their leaders and decrease in the number of sincere scholars. Their thinking is that they are born to be

served by the common people and whatever they desire they can do & say. They also believe that

whatever they do is always right. And this belief is so deep in them that if anyone shows them the right path

they will not accept it. They even try to silence that person. World is filled with such examples. The right way

was that if any leader tried to take any step wrong, the religious scholars and jurists were not prepared to

tolerate it or to tolerate any interference in ethical and religious matters that might be repugnant to the spirit

or principles of Islam. Nowadays the so called scholars only say and do such things through which they get

some worldly benefits.

Since previously Muslim scholars used to keep an eye on the leaders (Kings) and also on the common

people. When ever any kind of injustice was done on the people they used to raise their voice to warn the

govt. In this manner, the people and kings alike always remained prosperous. The logic behind this

correctness was the piousness of their scholars who were completely unconcerned about the worldly

wealth .They didn't care about what the kings feels towards them, rather they concerned with doing what is

right for the sake of God.