An essential part of the population considers Islam to be the influencing factor that led to the underdevelopment of Muslim societies. According to Ibn Khaldun, the central issue leading to decline was political illegitimacy initiated from the insertion of hereditary succession by Muâawiyah. This action interfered in Islamic laws regarding statecraft, and the basic Islamic teachings were gradually abandoned by political institutions. The principles of equality in front of the law, accountability of policymakers in front of the public, and freedom of self-expression eventually vanished away. Consequently, the solidarity between people and the government suffered significantly: citizens lost the motivation to create benefits for the country. Moreover, womenâs position in society was worsened by their rights restrictions and social isolation. These were the primary reasons for the stateâs decreased growth.
Ulama, religious scholars, and Sufis started bringing up the issues of abandoned Islamic values, and many of them were persecuted. Later, due to such pressure, ulama and Sufis lost interest and motivation to participate in royal courts and isolated themselves in monasteries and religious schools. These issues impacted the further development of Islamic countries, they became stagnant and lost flexibility. A wave of succession wars took over the country and deteriorated trade, the sanctity of individual life, honor, and property.
There had been faithful and honest rulers bettering the general situation of the state; however, after them, corrupt and incompetent rulers placed the country back on the decline path. Thus, political illegitimacy had a major influence on the development of Muslim countries, not Islam. Still, the economic development faced some obstacles due to religion which are Islamâs egalitarian inheritance system, absence of the concepts of legal personality in Islam, and the Islamic institution of waqf. These issues impacted the growth of capital, the creation, and the development of various organizations.
Primogeniture failed as a system in both Europe and America, and afterward, the capitalistic relationships came on board. The further development depended on the implementation of property rights issued by democratic states; however, in Islamic countries, these rights were insecure. The latter stagnated the capitalistic development, reduced the fixed capital and long-term agreements. Therefore, political illegitimacy, the lack of state support and security of education, technologies, and violation of property rights deteriorated Muslim countryâs growth.