Second Period of Decline
The period between 1350 and 1600 is characterized by
the revival of
cultural and scientific development
in Europe, usually referred to
as “Renaissance.” It
is an undeniable historical fact that this movement
was triggered under the influence of the achievements of the Muslims with
regard to science and scientific knowledge. The Middle Ages were, for the
Christian Europe, a period of intellectual stagnation; during this period, on
the other hand, the development of the scientific and inductive method among
the Arab Muslims was leading to unprecedented advancement in astronomy,
physics, geology, botany, medicine, and mathematics. During the time when the
Christian Europe was lost in the night of ignorance, we find that Greek,
Indian, and Persian sciences were being taught in the universities of Muslim
Spain, attracting scholars from all over Europe. In this way, the light of
reason and science reached and started to illuminate the darkness that was
mediaeval Europe.
Unfortunately, the development of science and technology in Europe coincided with the downfall in Muslim political power. By now the Arab rule in Spain — established by Abdur Rahman in 750 C.E. — was in decay. Muslim Spain, therefore, became the first target of European imperialism, culminating in the fall of its last stronghold, Granada, in 1492. Today, 500 years after the decline of Muslim rule, all the magnificent architecture of the Umayyads is still standing. Muslims and the Muslim culture, however, have completely vanished from modern Spain, as if they had never existed there. Weakness, as they say, is indeed a capital crime.
In the 15th century, Prince Henry of Portugal ordered to find a sea route to India. Various expeditions were only partly successful, until Vasco da Gama became the first European explorer to finally reach India by sea, in 1497, by traveling northwards after going around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. European Imperialism, which was as yet unable to colonize the Muslim lands in Asia because of the deterrence provided by the strong Ottoman Empire, was now in a position to launch her offensive through sea route. What followed was an onslaught of Portuguese, Dutch, British, and French traders-cum-conquerors, who, from 16th to 19th centuries, continued to occupy various Muslim states, exploiting all human and natural resources to their fullest. Moreover, just as the Jews were strongly influenced during the period of Greek and Roman rule by the language, culture, life-style, values, and ideas of their rulers, so were the Muslims.
By now the Ottoman Empire was in serious disarray, resulting from injustices by those in authority, decline in morality, widespread corruption, and, worst of all, lethargy and stagnation of the intelligentsia. The power vacuum created by the weakening Turks was an open invitation for the Western Imperialism to subjugate the heart of the Muslim world. And, indeed, they were only glad to oblige.
The beginning of the 20th century turned out to be the starting point for the second phase of decline in the heart of Muslim world. Thus, the British Intelligence masterminded the Arab revolt against the Turks during World War I, resulting in the segmentation of the great Ottoman Empire. Numerous smaller states were created in the Middle East and north Africa, which came under direct or indirect control of different European powers. In this way, a prediction of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) came true, i.e., “There will come a time when nations of the world will invite one another to invade and exploit you, just as a person calls upon his guests to the feast” (Abu Dawood).
The second phase of Muslim decline reached its lowest ebb during the first quarter of the present century, when the whole of Muslim world was enslaved by the forces of Western Colonialism. Then, in 1967, the Arabs received their most ignominious defeat at the hands of a cursed nation, when the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque was violated for the second time, and the Holy City was captured by Israeli army. In this the words of the Qur’an — “When the time of the second prediction came, (We roused against you another people) to ravage you, and to enter the Temple as they had done the first time, and to destroy utterly what they conquered” (Al-Isra 17:7) — were fulfilled once again.
The most tragic and lamentable aspect of this history is the fact that the Western Imperialism had succeeded in destroying Muslim unity and their esprit de corps. Although Muslims were never a single political entity after the decline of the Umayyads, they still remained thoroughly connected and unified because of their common beliefs and life-style. However, the seeds of racial prejudice and nationalistic chauvinism — planted by the Western Imperialism in the beginning of the 20th century — not only weakened that sense of brotherhood and ultimately led to the winding up of Caliphate, but are still producing their bitter fruits in the form of our growing disharmony.
This malignant trend of fragmentation along ethnic, territorial, and linguistic lines has resulted in the carnage suffered by the Turks at the hands of their Arab brethren, and the massacre and utter humiliation suffered by non-Bengali Muslims at the hands of their Bengali brethren in what was then East Pakistan. The insanity of fratricide, according to the Qur’an, is one of the manifestations of Divine punishment:
Say: “He has power to send you
retribution form the skies above, or the earth beneath your feet, or confound
you with divisions among you, and give one the taste of the vengeance of the
other.” (Al-An‘aam 6:65)
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