Masood N. Khan M.D.

• December 3rd 2021, a factory manager from Sri Lanka was beaten to death in Pakistan on rumours that he desecrated some religious writing. Such violent incidents resulting in killing of people have occurred repeatedly in Pakistan, where merely registering a complaint against somebody is sufficient to file a FIR. The accused could be arrested and jailed even before a proper investigation takes place.
• Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with theUnited States, has bombed Yemen—a poor country in an effort to maintain its political hegemony in the region. These actions have resulted in the deaths of approximately 150,000 people through both direct and indirect consequences of the bombings.
• September 13th, 2022, in Iran a Kurdishwoman Mehsa Amini was arrested for not wearing hijab. She was beaten while in custody, driven into a coma, and died a few days later in the hospital.
• January 1st 2011, in Egypt, the Church ofTwo Saints at Alexandria was bombed by Muslims on New Year’s Eve, killing innocent Christians. Over the past two decades, at least eight massacres of Christians have occurred in the country, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of innocent people.
• March 16th, 1988, under Saddam Hussein,Iraqi forces dropped chemical weapons on the Kurdish town of Halabja, killing between 5000 and 6000 innocent people almost instantaneously.
• On July 1st, 2016, Islamic extremists attacked a bakery in Dhaka, killing 22 people, most of whom were foreigners.
• In a Muslim country, it is not uncommon observe a religious scholar openly inciting hatred and violence against non Muslims through emotionally charged Islamo-fascist and xenophobic speeches, frequently met with applause from the audience.
• In Afghanistan, Taliban the hardline Islamists who govern the country have banned girls from receiving an education.
• The Syrian dictator, Bashar al Asad, violently suppressed peaceful protests for freedom and human rights, for more than a decade from 2011 to 2023 until he finally ran away from the country. His actions led to the deaths of an estimated 600,000 to 700,000 people including civilians and combatants, devastated the country’s infrastructure.

The western media frequently attributes acts of terrorism committed by Muslims directly to Islam, claiming it promotes violence, oppression, and disregards human rights. This accusation, however, is often built on a willful ignorance of the true causes behind such acts. While Muslims usually dismiss these concerns as merely Islamophobic or biased, they should not remain impervious to this blame. They need to introspect and self-examine whether their actions or interpretations of their faith have contributed to this perception.

The above examples from Muslim countries highlight a dichotomy between Muslims faith and their conduct. These troubling incidents in the Muslim world actually offer a glimpse into its bleak degeneration. They speak volumes about the “historic decline” of Muslims—a phenomenon that led Bernard Lewis, the renowned Princeton University professor of Eastern Studies and authority on Middle Eastern history, to write his seminal book What Went Wrong. Centuries earlier, the Arab Muslim polymath of al-Andalus (Spain), Ibn Tufayl, had also reflected on this condition in his work Hayy ibn Yaqzan, translated into Latin as Philosophus Autodidactus (the self-taught philosopher). The book, which quickly became one of the most sought-after works in Europe, tells the story of a boy who grows up alone on an uninhabited island and, through observation of nature and reflection, develops an innate ethical sense. Later, he visits another island inhabited by a large human community and finds its people outwardly observant of religious rites yet deeply indulgent in eating and other vices he deems immoral. When he attempts to reason out and guide them toward right and wrong, he only provokes hostility and stubbornness. Ultimately, he is disillusioned by their external adherence to religion devoid of understanding, meaning, or purpose and leaves them to return to his island.

Muslims often boast about their “Golden Age,” a period spanning roughly five to six centuries (from the 8th to the 14th century). Their pride and excitement, however, resembles the desperate attempts of a disgraced leader to impress others with tales of a glorious past. The question of what led to the decline from this era, is very intriguing. Despite scholarly examinations by prominent western non-Muslim writers and some Muslim intellectuals, these analyses have largely failed to inspire corrective change among the Muslim masses. This is due to two primary reasons: firstly, the limited reach of these academic discussions to the general public, coupled with the intellectual barriers the masses face in comprehending them. Secondly, the detrimental influence of the Mullahs, the ‘Friday Khateebs,’ and religious scholars educated solely in traditional and exclusively Islamic institutions. These so called scholars offer a simplistic and readily available explanation for what went wrong: ‘a lack of sincerity towards Islam, leading to a disregard for the Quran and Sunnah’. This ‘quackish explanation’ indicates their thinking limit. They believe that as long as Muslims were sincere in their faith, Allah blessed them with worldly success and dominance. This reflexive inference is profoundly incorrect, yet it resonates with an unthinking populace. They fail to consider that there’s no evidence Muslims today are less faithful than previous generations. While the nature of disregard may have changed, the magnitude of disregard in the past was arguably greater, not lesser. Even the early Islamic period, considered a foundational era, was marked by terrible civil wars among the companions, resulting in thousands of deaths. The Islamic state quickly engulfed in tribalism, reversing much of what the Prophet had achieved. Three of the four Caliphs were assassinated. The Prophet’s grandson was brutally murdered. During the “Harrah Event,” a catastrophic incident, Yazid’s army ransacked Medina, the Prophet’s city, for three consecutive days. They not only looted and killed innocent people but also engaged in widespread rape of women.

The notion that adhering to Islam grants one divine capacities beyond ordinary reach, appears plausible but reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the faith. In this equation the concept of earning the favor of God by our own efforts is totally absent. For many Muslims, “following the religion” primarily means observing its legal framework rather than internalizing its core message. This perspective neglects the Quran’s repeated emphasis on achieving success through one’s own efforts, combining intellect with righteous action, as opposed to passively awaiting divine favor. This shift from critical thinking, reflection, and action to a superficial adherence, coupled with a wishful reliance on divine intervention, has been a dangerous starting point of the decay and decline of Muslims.

Let’s explore how this shift originated and solidified over centuries, leading to the loss of the vibrant intellectualism of Islam’s Golden Age. The divine message of Islam inherently possessed the power to revolutionize human conduct. Rooted in unwavering faith and sound morality, it also fostered reflection on creation, the universe’s immensity, life’s purpose, and the rationale behind positive actions. Islam dramatically transformed Arabian society and, by extension, regions where it became the dominant faith. History attests to the remarkable achievements that followed this transformation. The message itself was simple, natural, and free of unnecessary complexities, yet it powerfully challenged human intellect to think and reflect. Within a remarkably short period, Islam fostered a society where distinctions of status, wealth, and power dissolved, and human dignity was solely measured by piety and righteous conduct. Prompted by the Quran’s constant calls to ponder and the Prophet’s emphasis on seeking knowledge, Muslims were inspired to take up intellectual pursuits in science, philosophy, and religion.

The pursuit of knowledge continued unabated and culminated in what is now known as the Golden Age of Islam. This era fostered a vibrant intellectual culture among Muslims and gave rise to a theological philosophy grounded in reason and logic, exemplified by the ‘Moa’tazalite school dominant in Baghdad and cities of old Iran called Khurasan, and Andalusian school entrenched in a philosophical approach to faith. Universities were established, including the renowned House of Wisdom (بيت الحكمة) in Baghdad, where free debates and discussions on a wide range of subjects regularly took place. Muslim scholars actively engaged with ancient wisdom and philosophies from Greece, Iran, India, Egypt, and China, approaching them with a strong spirit of investigation and research. As a result, they emerged as pioneers in fields such as mathematics, astronomy, medicine, optics, philosophy, history, law, anthropology, art and music. During the early phase of the Golden Age, between the 8th and 9th centuries A.D., a monumental project was undertaken and completed by Muslims known for their piety and religious scholarship: this was the compilation of the sayings of the Prophet. Until then, these sayings had been transmitted orally. The compilation required a methodology of authentication. This led to the development of a meticulous science known as Ilm al-Rijal (علم الرجال). This methodology focused on investigating and verifying the chain of transmission for each hadith in order to determine its authenticity. Despite these efforts, oral transmission over nearly two centuries could not entirely escape misquotations or deliberate fabrication. The collectors of Hadeeth were unaware that their compilations would later contribute to significant problems. These included the emergence of a traditionalist and literalist understanding of Deen recognized today as Ahl al Hadeeth (أهل الحديث) and Salfism and Whabism. It stood in stark contrast to the earlier intellectual approach and also opened the door to the misuse of these texts by Muslims to their own detriment. Gradually, a subtle clash began to surface within Muslim society between two modules of comprehending Deen: one rooted in literal understanding of the message, and the other grounded in intellectual interpretation. Although this tension was initially mild and largely benign, it soon grew more virulent, becoming a natural byproduct of the confrontation between literalism and dogmatism on one side, and intellectualism and thematicism on the other.

Around the same period within a century or two after the appearance of the Hadeeth collections, a second major milestone emerged in the Muslim world. Drawing on the newly available vast body of Hadeeth and a predominantly literalist approach in their understanding, scholars formulated four Sunni jurisprudential schools (madhhabs) known by the names of their respective founders. This development produced an enormous and highly detailed system of rules and regulations known as Fiqh, which placed a strong emphasis on the outward structure of Islam. Fiqh expanded extensively into matters such as the importance of keeping a beard and even its length, wearing pants above the ankle, and the meticulous classification of actions as permitted or forbidden. These classifications included mustahab (مستحب), makruh-e-tanzeehi (مكروه تنزيبي), and makruh-e-tahreemi (مكروه تحريمي). Similarly, prayers were divided into mandatory fardh, sunnah-e-muakkidah and ghair muakkidah (سنت مؤكدة وغير مؤكدة), along with supererogatory nafl (نفل) prayers, and many other such distinctions. The sheer volume of these details added to what in essence, constitutes a small portion in Quran of clearly defined dos and don’ts for a moral human life, is mind-boggling. This highly structured framework of Fiqh further enhanced and strengthened the literalist understanding of Deen. In doing so, it led the Muslim mind to become absorbed in the outward form of religion, diverting it away from a deeper and more holistic understanding.

In sharp contrast to the approach described above, the intellectual engagement with Deen focused more on examining fundamental questions such as, the place of human beings in God’s creation; humanity’s relationship with the Creator, God’s attributes and their meanings; what constitutes total submission to God; whether human beings possess free will and how that relates to divine justice; the meaning of reward and punishment in the hereafter; and how best to understand the allegories in the Qur’an concerning Qiyamah (قيامة), paradise (جنة) and hellfire (جهنم). This approach sought to extract the spirit and deeper meaning of the divine message. Such inquiries, and the pursuit of their answers, came to be known among intellectuals and philosophers as theology (kalam). The theological understanding of Deen was nuanced, non-dogmatic, broad-minded, and flexible, in contrast to a highly structured, jurisprudential understanding rooted in literalism and dogmatism.

Rather than complementing one another to produce a balanced understanding of Deen, these two opposing approaches regrettably devolved into a bitter conflict. The patrons of intellectualism, the Abbasid Caliphs persecuted traditionalists, the most famous example being Ahmad bin Hanbal, who was imprisoned and tortured over the controversial issue of Khalq-e-Qur’an (Creation of Quran). At first glance, this controversy may appear trivial or unnecessary, but in fact reflected a profound difference in how Deen itself was understood. Traditionalists held that the Qur’an is eternal with God and therefore beyond the reach of finite human intellect for interpretive experimentation; it was to be accepted exactly as worded. Intellectualists, by contrast, viewed the Qur’an as a creation of God and thus open to interpretation by human reason which would naturally evolve over time in response to changing circumstances and challenges.

The difference between the two schools can be further simplified as follows. The former viewed God’s creation including all His commandments to do good and reject evil, as predestined and pre-determined. Good and bad were considered good or bad solely because God had declared them so. In this view, the role of human intellect was limited to obedience and strict adherence to God’s words. The latter school, however, believed that God’s commandments point to objective ethics and moral values meant to be reflected upon and understood. It put the responsibility on human beings to define the divine portents about what is good and bad, based upon human being’s inborn intuitive innate nature combined with the intellect. Human intellect, in this perspective, probes, examines and understands the rationale behind God’s commandments. Based on this understanding, a person either willingly accepts and submits to God’s commands or arrogantly rejects them. Such rejection represents a decision to go against one’s own nature (or conscience) and sense of reason and ultimately causes self-harm. This willful and arrogant rejection is termed transgression Zulm (ظلم) in Quranic terminology, and those who persist in it are called (ظالمين).

By the end of two centuries of this struggle between traditionalism and intellectualism, sadly and unfortunately, traditionalism emerged victorious. Several factors contributed to this outcome: the persecution of some traditionalist scholars by the Abbasids, the bitter controversy over whether the Quran was created or eternal, and the personal influence of prominent traditionalist figures such as Imam Malik (d 795) and Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal (d 855), Abul Hasan Al-Ashari (d 936), including the most notable Imam Ghazali (d 1111), an intellectualist turned traditionalist, who further cast intellectualism in a negative light. As a result, intellectualism was overpowered within the Muslim world. Like a triumphant conquering army, traditionalists not only imposed a highly structured, jurisprudential, and ritualistic understanding of religion, but also began condemning intellectualism as an evil obstacle to obedience of God. The Muslim world became flooded with lectures by mullahs denigrating human intellect while Muslim poets rhetorically mocked intellect in their poetry.

The Results:

As might be expected, the dominance of a traditionalist approach to faith marked the beginning of a steep decline for Muslims. This decline unfolded on two major fronts.

Intellectual and Scientific Stagnation: Exploration in philosophy and science came to an abrupt halt. Printing in Arabic, let alone printing the Quran was considered blasphemous and remained banned in the Ottoman Empire for centuries. Al-Ghazali reinforced this trend through his book ‘Incoherence of the Philosophers’, in which he declared intellectualism in general, and the study of philosophical works from non-Muslim sources in particular, to be Kufr (كفر), disbelief in God. He went further by concluding that such pursuits could be punishable by death. The destructive impact of Al-Ghazali’s thought compelled the great rationalist philosopher from Andalusia, Ibn Rushd, to respond with his own work, ‘Incoherence of the Incoherence’. However, by then the damage was deep and widespread across the Muslim world. Traditionalism led to the erosion of intellectual inquiry, reflection, and thoughtful engagement with Quranic injunctions. Muslims lost the ability to extract guiding messages from Quranic allegories, properly understand the sayings of the Prophet within their context, investigate ancient philosophies from non-Muslim sources, benefit from them, and improve upon them. An inclusive, tolerant, and universal approach to seeking knowledge was lost. With such profound deprivation, the Golden Age of Islam could not endure. It faded like a cancer patient who gradually deteriorates and eventually passes away.

Ironically, at the very moment the Muslim world fell under the grip of traditionalism and literalism, Europe began studying the works of great Muslim intellectual philosophers. Their writings were translated from Arabic into English and Latin, helping to spark the great awakening known as the Renaissance. From that point onward, Europe and the Western world continued to progress through their investigative spirit in various fields of knowledge resulting in scientific discoveries technological advances, and scouting philosophy to understand the human mind, psychology, anthropology, sociology, art and other domains of knowledge.

Effects on Muslim mindset and conduct: Traditionalism profoundly shaped Muslim thought and behavior. At the individual level, its most damaging consequences were rigidity, dogmatism and intolerance toward differing opinions. Those who proposed unconventional interpretations were often silenced and, in many cases, forced into exile. An excessive preoccupation with rigid dos and don’ts, without a proper understanding of Quranic injunctions, led to a jurisprudential and ritualistic conception of Deen. Piety came to be measured by outward conservatism rather than genuine character, and by copying the Prophet rather than truly following him. Unable to place issues in proper perspective, Muslims became confined within a rigid framework that left little room for progress or change. This understanding ultimately became a major obstacle to their overall development.

Traditionalism also encouraged the unquestioned acceptance of Hadeeth as entirely free from misquotation or fabrication especially if quoted from few so called authentic collections. Little to no attention was paid to their context or to their time-bound, culture-bound, or situation-bound limitations. This literalist approach led to widespread misconceptions and contributed to xenophobic religious fascism, bigotry, gender discrimination, and the denial of human rights, particularly for women and non-Muslim citizens in Muslim lands. Implementation of harsh blasphemy and apostasy laws are further examples of this rigid, dogmatic and misreckoned mindset. Moreover, the irresponsible use of Hadeeth fueled hostile sectarianism among Muslims.

Literalism hindered appreciation of the evolutionary changes occurring in the world and undermined the ability to respond to them effectively. Psychological confusion and maladjustment to a changing reality drove many Muslims to seek refuge in the past. Excessive focus on stories of the Prophet’s companions and overly glorified figures from earlier centuries, many of which are fabricated, became sources of comfort and entertainment.

The decline of the Muslim world had already begun centuries earlier, driven by the dominance of blind traditionalism and a loss of insight and reason in religious thought. However, the full extent of this decline did not become apparent until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of colonialism in Muslim lands. For a period, expansionism later expressed as Islamic Imperialism, seemed to mask the underlying damage. In truth, the once-mighty Muslim empire was deteriorating from within, like a building whose foundation is slowly being eaten away by termites. By the end of the First World War, this vast but weakened structure finally collapsed, disappearing almost entirely and leaving behind only a remnant in the form of modern Turkey.

The decadent mindset prevalent in Muslim countries today is evident everywhere. Beyond the examples given earlier, it manifests as a herd like submission to mullahs, whose nonsense, sadly goes unquestioned due to Muslims’ timid and stunted understanding of their faith.

In plain terms, the painful story of Muslim decline is the story of the dogmatic subversion of the divine message by Muslims themselves, leading to their gradual degeneration and decline and, tragically, constituting a disservice to their own Prophet.