Intellectual elevation
A cursory glance of civilisations of the past shows us that although there may have been various factors which led to the rise and decline of a number of empires, there does exists a common theme that always exists, that is an underlying thought which unifies people. Hitler managed to unify the German masses on a racist basis which became the driving force that propelled it to nearly shift the balance of power away from the British Empire. Alexander the great managed to conquer most of the world with Greek culture forming the driving force. The last two hundred years have shown that if the unifying force is an ideological bond then this most certainly propelle’s the people who embrace it into a superpower. This was the case for Tsarist Russia and Christian Europe.
The Muslims also have an ideological bond which is built upon the Islamic aqeedah, however we witness today that the ummah is not a superpower, in fact she is influenced and manipulated by the superpowers. For the last 1000 years the ummah ruled the world for the majority of time spreading justice however when her conception of the ideology faltered her position as the superpower also faltered.
Understanding the factors that lead to decline and revival are essential for the Muslims as this will ensure the purity of the ideology remains and ensures the Islamic ideology remains the basis for the nation that is built upon it. A glance at the Islamic history shows there are a number of lesson that need to be learnt to ensure decline never occurs again however it also hows us the importance of a clear conception of the ideology plays in revival and decline.
The Abbasid period from 750 – 1258 CE is generally considered by almost all historians Muslim or non Muslim as the golden period, where Islamic culture was the texts studies by all and the development of many fields.. The Abbasids understood Islam as an ideology, which meant it needs to be conveyed to the world by the...