نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسنده
استاد، گروه تاریخ، دانشگاه لرستان، خرمآباد، ایران
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسنده [English]
Despite its early flourishing, Islamic civilization gradually suffered from a series of debilitating factors that led to its decline. These factors can be broadly divided into two categories: internal—arising from within the Islamic society itself—and external, rooted in the surrounding world and external events that adversely affected the trajectory of Islamic civilization. Just as the emergence and expansion of this civilization have drawn scholarly attention, its stagnation and deterioration become a subject of critical inquiry among Muslim scholars, each offering distinct perspectives on its causes. This article adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to explore a central question on what internal factors contributing to the decline of Islamic civilization have been identified by contemporary Arab Muslim scholars. The principal objective is to investigate the internal weaknesses and afflictions that, according to these thinkers, have played a decisive role in the historical downturn of Islamic civilization. The study rests on the hypothesis that in the thought of these scholars, both internal and external causes are acknowledged; however, this article focuses specifically on the internal dimension of that decline. Methodologically, the research falls within the domain of historical studies. Data has been gathered through library-based research, while the analytical framework is rooted in descriptive and interpretive techniques. The term Islamic civilization in this study encompasses both the material and spiritual heritage developed and presented by Muslims during their historical period of civilizational grandeur. Conversely, decline is understood as a state of intellectual and societal regression, in which the former scientific and cultural brilliance of the Muslim world changed into the weakness and stagnation. Findings reveal that the question of decline has occupied the minds of many Muslim intellectuals-from North Africa to South Asia-since the 13th century A.H. The concept of decline has been widely discussed across diverse Muslim contexts including Turkish, Arab, Iranian, Indian, and Indonesian thought. The question of why Muslims regressed while others advanced became a central concern for scholars of different Islamic nationalities. In the modern Arab context, a complex and multidimensional social crisis-considered both a result and a manifestation of civilizational decay-paved the way for reformist movements. Leading Arab Muslim thinkers such as Moḥammad ʿAbdoh, Moḥammad Rashid Reza, ʿAbdol-Raḥmān al-Kawakebi, Malek
Ibn e-Nabi, Samiḥ ʿĀṭef al-Zayn, Shakib Arsalan, and others have all addressed the phenomenon of decline by engaging with the contemporary conditions of Muslim societies. While there is some contention regarding the precise causes, a general consensus affirms the reality of decline and backwardness. Consequently, much of their thought focuses on strategies for civilizational revival, either through a return to Islamic principles or via the selective adoption of Western models of modernization. These thinkers have identified a number of internal crises—doctrinal, political, social, moral, and intellectual-as key contributors to Islamic civilizational decline. The deterioration of internal conditions, in turn, facilitated the impact of external pressures. Chief among these internal causes, according to the reformists, is a doctrinal crisis marked by a weakening of faith and theological deviation. Political despotism-manifest in tyranny, corruption, and the erosion of justice by Muslim rulers-is another frequently cited cause. Social factors include the absence of national unity and solidarity, fragmentation along sectarian and ethnic lines, failure to attain material and spiritual strength, and pervasive Westernization, self-alienation, and cultural dislocation. In the realm of intellectual decline, the loss of scientific vitality and innovation has been a prominent concern. Moreover, the moral degeneration of both leaders and the general publicmarked by worldliness, materialism, extravagance, and disengagement from ethical and spiritual valueshas further exacerbated the decline. These developments led to widespread negligence of social and personal responsibilities, as Muslims became increasingly inward-looking and stagnant. The article concludes that contemporary Arab Muslim thinkers acknowledge the reality of Islamic civilizational decline and emphasize the interplay of both internal and external causes-though they view internal factors as the primary enablers of external threats. Islamist thinkers, in contrast to secular reformists, do not regard Islam itself as the source of decline. On the contrary, they argue that the abandonment of the monotheistic thought of Islam, and the transformation of Muslim lifestyles and cultures, lie at the heart of the problem. For these thinkers, a return to the authentic principles of Islam is not merely a solution, but an essential catalyst for the civilizational renewal of the Muslim world.
کلیدواژهها [English]
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