“In the Name of Allah,
Most Gracious, Most Merciful”.
The Two Periods of the Rise and Decline of the Muslim Ummah
The Twentieth century of the Christian era, according
to our analysis, presents a decisive turning
point in the history of the
Muslim
Ummah (community).
At the
end of
the
first quarter of the century the state
of the Muslim world
had taken a definite turn, and
there were some signs
of
resuscitation in the moribund body
of
the Muslim Ummah.
If
we look at it closely,
the middle half of this century presents an astounding picture. On one hand, the process
of
decline and deterioration reached its
lowest ebb in the
events of 1967 and 1971. On the other hand, there was also
a widespread movement
towards revival and
the beginning of a process of renewal. It commenced during
the years 1920-1925. For the
past fifty years these concurrent trends of degeneration and revival continued
side
by side almost in the
manner depicted in the
Qur’an.
“He has
let free
the two
bodies of flowing water, meeting together. Between them is a barrier which they do not transgress”.
(Al-Qur’an 55: 19-20)
In order to elaborate this general view, we will first
present a chronological sketch of the rise and decline of the
Muslim Ummah. In fact, an understanding of our
present situation demands that the past glory and grandeur
of
the Muslim Ummah should be realised by young Muslims.
They should know that there was a time when the armies of the Arabs starting from Gibraltar had reached north-east
into the heart of
France.
At another
time
the Turkish armies, after trampling
all
of Eastern Europe,
were knocking at the gates
of Vienna. Perhaps in this way we can recreate in the hearts of our young men a desire to revive the
past majesty and glory of
the Muslim civilisation.
It
should also become clear from this that the decline
of
this superb culture was due to the
justice of Almighty Allah (SWT),
which is above all human considerations,
as His laws are abiding and immutable. The
way He
dealt
with
the previous community of faith in His revelation i.e.,
the
Jews – was repeated in His dealings with us.
Our history and their history are
to a remarkable
extent analogous. Two periods of severe chastisement were borne by the Jews, and we have also passed through two periods of chastisement. Although, because of the vastness
of
the Ummah of Muhammad
(SAW) our
periods
of deterioration and
degradation were much
longer than
those
of
the Jews. During the period of Jewish control, Jerusalem was devastated twice, and during the period of
our control the sanctity of al-Aqsa Mosque was also violated
twice.
After this
we will have a brief survey of the
present general current of revival in order
to widen the intellectual
horizon of the reader so
that he may look
at the various efforts of
Islamic revival in the right perspective. In addition to that,
it would
also clarify what
kind of humble
service we are trying to perform in
the midst
of this pervasive process
of
revival and the
sector in which we
are trying to work,
so that according to the Qur’anic verse:
“He who perished might perish having a clear proof, and he who survived
might survive
having a clear proof”.
(Al-Qur’an 8 :
42)
He
who wishes to co-operate with us should have
sufficient ground to do so with full potentialities of his heart and
soul and without
reservations;
and he
who wants to
criticise us, should fulfill this obligation after
complete understanding
of
our standpoint.
In
this connection with the historical sketch of the rise and fall of the Muslim
Ummah, it
should be understood
that
the Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has two components. The first consists of those among the
descendants of Ismail (AS) –- referred to in the Qur’an as
‘ummiyeen’ i.e., the unlettered
people –- who had
not
received a previous revelation from Allah (SWT). These Arabs constitute the nucleus of the
Ummah. The other component, ‘akhareen’ includes all other people,
whether
Kurds, Turks, Persians, Afghans, Indians, Mughals,
Abyssinians, Berbers or
any
other. They may live as far
as Malaysia and Indonesia
in
the east and as far
as Morocco and Mauritania
in
the West.
Secondly, the Islamic world can be
divided
in
three sections
geographically. If we focus our gaze
on the Islamic part of the globe, it would look like an eagle that
is flying with its two wings completely outstretched.
The
first geographical section is in the centre, the heart
of Muslim territory. The two
others form wings on either side. The Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Palestine, Syria
and Asia Minor can be regarded as the main body
of the Islamic world, analogous to the body of the eagle. Asia Minor is its head and
beak. The southern part of the peninsula is its tail with
wings stretched out.
Its right wing starts from Iran and Turkey, includes
Afghanistan and Indo-Pak sub-continent, and extends up to
Malaysia and Indonesia.
Its left wing encompasses
the whole
of Northern Africa and
had reached into
Spain and
France.
Now let
us look at the
historical sketch. The history of
the
Muslim Ummah starts from the seventh century of the
Christian era as the
Prophet Muhammad
(SAW) was
born in 571 A.D. He started his mission in 610 A.D. and the
most correct estimates state that, after having
brought about a complete
Islamic revolution throughout the
Arabian peninsula, he returned to his Creator in the year 632
A.D. (May the peace, blessings and grace of Allah
(SWT) be showered upon him). During the reign of the first three caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar and Usman (RAA) who were all immediate disciples of Muhammad (SAW), the ‘unlettered’ descendants of Ismail (the Arabs) sallied
forth
like a flood from the Arabian peninsula, with the Qur’an in one hand and
a sword
in
the other. In less than a quarter of
a century they planted the
flag of Islam not only
in Iran,
Iraq, Syria, Palestine
and Egypt, but also upon a considerable portion of North
Africa.
During the
Caliphate
of
Ali (RAA) this expansion ceased
temporarily, but with the beginning of the Umayyad era it started again. Within
a short span of time, new lands were conquered
extending in
the East
through Turkistan and Afghanistan up to Sindh, and in the West extending through the entire area
of
North Africa and a vast
area of Western Europe including Spain.
This
was the time when Arab
armies,
advancing from Spain, had
reached the heart
of
France. Muslim political domination was at its zenith in the eighth, nine
and tenth centuries of the
Christian era. The dynasties
of
Umayyads and Abbasids
–-
two important descendant clans of ‘ummiyeen’ Arabs –- upheld the banner of the Islamic
world2. Their
civilization
and culture, their religion, their arts and sciences and
their
supremacy continued to exercise its hold
on
the greater portion of the civilized world. But the
more their worldly power and
majesty grew, the more their
religious sentiments and enthusiasm for
their faith declined. In this way
this majestic power structure rotted from inside. The signs of
internal weakness took some time to become
evident, but
by the
tenth century it had become quite clear that the Arabs had touched utter decadence and senility.
In the
eleventh century the decline and deterioration of the unlettered people (the Arabs) had reached to its
last limit, and
consequently
a power vacuum was created
in the
heart
of
the Islamic world.
[*2 Of these two, the Umayyad
era
marked the real glory, power
and supremacy of the purely Arab race. From the beginning
of the reign of the Abbasid dynasty the Persians
had decisively gained an
upper hand in the
affairs of the
kingdom and its government.
The
influence of the Persians in the Muslim world
corroded
from within the glory and power of the Arabs. The
fervour, dynamism and aggressiveness which were inherent in
the Arab blood manifested itself in that branch of Umayyad dynasty which established itself in Spain and continued to
flourish for three centuries after the total collapse of Arab power
in the heart of the Islamic world. And it ended during the last
years of the fifteenth century.]
As a result of this power vacuum, tribes arose from
the north-eastern borders
of
the Muslim world,
and penetrated to the centre of the
Muslim
lands. Fortunately,
they
had already embraced Islamic faith. These were the
Kurds and the Seljuk Turks.
In the
eleventh century
they strengthened their hold in Syria, Palestine and
Egypt. In this way, a fresh force was supplied for the safety and
protection of the
centre
of
the Islamic world.3
[*3
During this very period Afghan tribes advanced southeast
and invaded the Indian sub-continent. These invasions paved the way to the magnificent Muslim rule in India stretching
over
centuries.]
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the
first of
the
chastisement with which Allah (SWT) had
threatened the Jews and
which He meted out to them
overtook the
Muslim Ummah.
The
following Divine
warning was
fulfilled exactly:
“We
sent against you our servants, given to terrible warfare. They entered the very in most parts of your homes and towns.”
(Al-Qur’an 17 : 5)
In
this connection, large armies of Crusaders swarmed from the West and in 1099, not only the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque
was defiled,
there
was also a massacre in
Jerusalem on such a vast scale that
even the Western historians feel guilty
while mentioning it in their
accounts. Jerusalem remained in the possession of the
Crusaders for
eighty-eight years. This was so
because the Abbasid Caliphate was passing through the Pangs of death, and
there
was no
energy
left
in the
descendants of
the originally indomitable Arabs. Finally, the fiery
and fresh blood of ‘akhareen’ i.e., non-Arab Muslim people under
the
leadership of the
great and famous warrior
Salahuddin Ayyubi liberated Jerusalem
from
the occupation of the Crusaders in 1187 A.D. and
thus turned the
tide
of
the war between Muslims
and the invaders.
Then from the East came the great stormy hordes of
Tartars, who first ravaged
Afghanistan and Iran, and in 1258 A.D.
devastated Baghdad completely.
Millions of Muslims were savagely murdered. The streets of Baghdad
turned
into pools of blood and
the famous city
of ‘A
thousand and one nights’ was
literally razed
to the ground. This was repetition of exactly the same situation
that had occurred two
thousand years
before
on the destruction of
Solomon’s
Temple by the
invasion of Nebuchadnezzar. Consequently with
the fall of
Malik Mu’tasim,
the Muslim Caliph,
the flickering
lamp
of Abbasid Caliphate was completely extinguished. Thus not
only
the first threat of Divine
chastisement upon the Muslim Ummah was fulfilled but also as far as the Arabs
were concerned at least the following warning was also
fulfilled:
“And if ye turn away, He will substitute
in your place another people, then they would not be
like you”.
(Al-Qur’an 47
: 38)
They were dismissed from the
leadership
and authority they
had held over
the Islamic world. Two years
later, in 1260 A.D. the
advance of the
Tartars was
checked by the non-Arabs which at least
saved the Western wing of the
Islamic world
from
further destruction.
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