The Decline of Islamic Empire 1700’s-Present

The Decline of Islamic Empire and Colonisation

From the 1700s to the Present

by James S. Coates

The Roots of Colonial Expansion

Upon the end of the Crusades from Europe, Crusaders and their families saw conquered territories as lands “flowing with milk and honey.” Many of them chose to immigrate to these territories in the Middle East, Asia Minor, and North Africa.

The warring kings of Europe, formerly the Roman Empire, had stagnated their economies by wasting their resources in their bitter wars against each other and in the Crusade campaigns. The newly conquered territories were rich in food, raw materials, precious metals, and other resources valuable to Europe. It offered prime opportunity for the kings of Europe to establish “colonial” governments among the former Crusaders who had immigrated into these conquered territories, in order to tap the rich resources of the land and export them to Europe. After Europe revitalised its economies, colonialist expansion had begun.

The French Invasion of Egypt (1798–1801)

The three-year French occupation was too short to exert any lasting effects on Egypt, despite claims to the contrary. Its most important effect on Egypt internally was the rapid decline in the power of the Mamluks.

The major impact of the French invasion was the effect it had on Europe. Napoleon’s invasion revealed the Middle East as an area of immense strategic importance to the European powers, thus inaugurating the Anglo-French rivalry for influence in the region and bringing the British into the Mediterranean.

The Effects of Colonialism

The effects of colonialism on the Islamic State are quite evident. Territories rich in resources and populated by indigenous peoples were exploited by colonial governments. Innovative technology was brought in from Europe to exploit agriculture, demolish precious monuments, and enforce colonial rules and customs.

The once fertile lands began to succumb to famine, disease, and death. The Islamic State began to erode and become dependent on the colonial governments for aid and technological advances.

When, even as noted in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, the kings of Europe showed no mercy and refused aid, insurrections occurred demanding independence. For many, the extent of the damage had already occurred. Today, these former colonies established within the borders of the Islamic State struggle with the effects of colonialism.

Afghanistan: The Centre of Struggle

Then as now, Afghanistan was the centre of that struggle, offering Britain countless challenges until, in 1878, Lord Frederick Sleigh Roberts asserted control over Afghanistan. In 1880, he marched 10,000 troops from Kabul to Kandahar to the aid of a beleaguered British garrison. The battle left 600 Afghans and 35 British dead, a token of the bloodshed that has steeped the region’s wars and convinced outsiders of the perils of intervening there.

The British withdrew in 1881 after many battles and uprisings, leaving the country in the hands of a native ruler. He, in 1893, agreed to a division of tribal areas that became Afghanistan’s northeastern border with British India—and that is now its troublingly porous border with Pakistan.

The Carving of the Middle East

The British role in moulding the theatre of today’s regional conflicts was by no means just military. With World War I under way, Britain and France reached a secret deal to carve up the Middle East. And that deal—the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916—was central to the Western division of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1920s.

For Muslims worldwide, the abolition of the Caliphate in 1924 is mourned as the final passing of the Muslim Caliphate that dated to the Prophet Muhammad. It represents an episode of profound cultural and political loss—the severing of a unifying institution that had existed, in various forms, for over 1,300 years.

As for the modern contest of Israeli and Palestinian nationalisms, its seeds were sown by imperial British involvement in the Arab world, which has also shaped many of the borders and conflicts that endure to this day in Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. In the so-called Balfour Declaration of 1917, Britain promised support to the Zionist project, even as British officials were manoeuvring to sponsor Arab independence.

The Post-Colonial Period: 1950s–Present

Many of the trends in Muslim countries are a result of this historical period, as Muslims, like much of the third world, struggle to define themselves in a post-colonial world.

After colonialism had left, very little stability remained, and the original Islamic State no longer existed. The Caliphate, which had been under the Ottomans (Sunni Muslims from Turkey), was abolished in 1924.

This led to the creation of a “ruling class” where the people are secondary to the dictator’s regime.

Disputes like we see today in Palestine, Kashmir, and elsewhere are lasting effects of the colonial period.

The former Islamic State has now been divided into various countries, and power has been given to those who continue to rule their nations in the same harsh colonialist fashion. Muslims struggle under sometimes brutal oppression from dictators, kings, and police states. Most are devoid of the values that existed in the Islamic State and are frequent violators of human rights.