Did Islamic Law Cause Islamic Civilization to Decline?

Abstract

The question of why Islamic ‘civilization’ declined, and the theories proposed to provide an answer to that question constitute a significant topic of discussion within the field of Islamic studies. This paper focuses on one of the theories advanced to deal with this important question, a theory which claims that ‘the all-embracing Islamic law was one of the primary causes behind Islamic civilization’s decline and its inability to revive’. In an effort to scrutinize the integrity of this theory as it is presented by Saunders, the present work analyzes relevant literature. This paper finds that such a theory relies heavily on certain assumptions of 18th and 19th century Orientalists. Most importantly, it argues that such a theory is self-contradictory because if it was Islamic law that caused the decline of Islamic ‘civilization,’ it could have not allowed it to rise in the first place.