The best way to know the reason for the downfall of Muslims is to find out the ways of their prosperity in the early days and discuss what wee the principles acting upon which the Muslims of those days reached the pinnacle of their glory and also whether we can act upon these principles these days or not.
Hence when we study the history of Islam from this angle we come to know that before the birth of the Holy Prophet, Arabia was the weakest, uneducated, and undeveloped country. But after the apostleship within a period of hundred years Arabs conquered half of the best part of the world and had their sway over the other half part of the world as has been done by U.S.A. and other few European countries. Now not only did the Arabs conquer these countries, but also spread the new culture which came into existence due to the teaching of the Holy Quran.
This is the strange accident of history of the world which has no parallel. The historians and research scholars of Europe have spent their life in probing into the reasons of their prosperity but as they did not believe in spiritualism and mission of Holy Prophet hence they have only viewed the psychological aspect of the teaching of the Holy Quran and got to the principles which are hidden in this simple teaching as water is hidden in the entire system of the tree. And in truth the basic factors of the prosperity of Europe are the same which were of Islamic people. When the Muslims ponder over their early history and try to find out the reasons of their astonishing prosperity and advancement they feel the powers of spiritualism of the Holy Prophet…….his miracle etc.,……. and they cannot find out from psychological point of view the hidden power in the teaching of Islam which can make the dead alive and those alive unforgettable. In my opinion the material prosperity as well as absence of spiritualism in Europe is due to the fact that Europe did not study Islam from spiritual point of view but from material angel. Similarly the reason for the downfall of present day Muslims is that they study the Quran in the light of spiritual performance of miracles and not from the point of view or material prosperity.
Every nation can be divided into three sections from the point of intellectual power; high, middle, and lower. When Allah desires to give prosperity to any nation HE(Allah) brings forth among them a man who is followed with heart and sold by the first section of the people. They say yes when he says yes, and no when he says no. they sit and get up at his command. They live with his beckoning and die at his order. In this way a well knit and well organized group is formed which wins the heart and respect of the whole nation because the middle section follows this group and helps it and the mass of the people constituting the third section joins it as a matter of course. Thus a revolution takes place in the entire nation.
Allah had given the leadership of the high class of the Arab society to the Holy Prophet. On one side due to this personal piety and high degree of moral and intellectual power, he was the most respected man. On the other hand Almighty Allah had taught him through revelations which were essential for the prosperity and well being and peace and progress of not only the Arabs but the entire world. As the Holy Prophet is the last Prophet and as the Holy Quran is the last true Book of Allah, therefore, it consists of all the ways and principles concerning this world as well as hereafter which are essential for human progress in this world and salvation in the other world. It is true that in the Holy Book only principles have been described: detail have not been given. But the greatest miracle of the Holy Book is this that man’s mind may reach pinnacle of the glory or go down the abyss of degradation, wonderful discoveries may take place; an may fly to other stars but the principles which have been enunciated in the Holy Quran for peaceful pursuits and life, mundane prosperity and peace and pleasure in the other world after death will always be the guiding factors of mankind.
Now we have to see what principles have been given in the Holy Quran in order to achieve worldly prosperity and by following them the group of people prospered which was organized and disciplined by the Holy Prophet himself. In this group were only such companions of the Holy Prophet who being close to him learnt more from him than other. These exalted companions were hardly a few hundred souls. But this was the selected group of the people which was the heart and mind of the entire Arabs world. The middle class consisted of such person who, though not perfect in faith, had good faith and followed the Quranic order less than the first group of people but better than the ordinary group of the people. The ordinary group of the people consisted of three classes. First, though they had accepted Islam with heart and soul but were weak in faith and action; second were those who seeing the grandeur and majesty of Islam were converted to it automatically or for greed but became true Muslimans later on. Third were those who were mere hypocrites and hidden enemies of Islam. But they could do no harm to Islam till the Caliphate of Hazrat Omar and there came into being a group which fulfilled all the requirements of group life in every way. What were those principles? Though the individuals of the group strictly followed and acted upon all the orders of the Book, but I shall here deal with only those principles which Allah has given in the Holy Quran for group life and national prosperity. These are five principles:-
1. Faith, that is, perfect faith.
2. Unity, that is, Universal love and
3. Union, that is, organization.
4. Obedience, that is, discipline.
5. Action, that is, unlimited power to work and its use.
These give principles unless mingle together in a scattered group of people; they cannot collect together in form or as a group. And it is true that
