BY NOT UPDATING ISLAM WITH THE TIMES, MUSLIMS ARE FALLING BEHIND.
It was the Islamic injunctions, which first led to the Islamic Golden Age from the eighth and thirteenth centuries, or for over 500 years. In fact, the real reason many so-called Islamic countries are falling behind today is precisely because Muslims and the autocratic governments in power are not faithfully following Islamic injunctions related to justice, social equality and knowledge seeking for all gender and background, rich and poor.
Also, the history of Western democracies should not be forgotten:
The history of their own country [America] began with the genocidal destruction of Native Americans, continued with the despicable history of African slavery, and at the heights of their technological achievements with dropping an atom bomb on Japan. (Source: The liberal roots of Islamophobia, Hamid Dabashi, 3 March 2017, Alajzeera.com) Therefore with time and hopefully with a lot less bloodshed, Muslim-majority countries will re-emerge economically.
WHEN DID THE MUSLIM DECLINE START AND WHY IS IT CONTINUING?
Since Muslims ruled Andalusia, followers of Islam have witnessed one historical defeat after another, the last being the demise of the 600-year Ottoman empire. In more modern history, Arabs have witnessed political defeats that left Palestine under Israeli military control, Syria and Egypt ceding territory in the six-day war and Iraq defeated twice by an US-led coalition that included Arab allies. (Source: The only way to defeat Islamic State is to give young Arabs hope, Daoud Kuttab, 27 July 2016, The Guardian)
[One ought to] . . . be aware that Middle Eastern nations have repeatedly been subjected to humiliating wars of invasion, conquest and expropriation that have killed millions of people. (Source: Atheism, Islam and liberalism: This is what we are really fighting about on 12 Oct 2014 by Andrew O’Hehir, Salon)
Siddiq Bazarwala 