相反,他们认为穆斯林的Ijtihād之门应当关闭。他们主张,Ijtihād是不被允许的,以至于许多具备Ijtihād资格、有能力进行Ijtihād的‘Ulamā都不敢进行Ijtihād,也不敢宣称自己是mujtahid。这种衰落始于伊斯兰历第4世纪末,尽管从开始到第6世纪末、第7世纪初,仍有一定的进展。当像al-Qaffal这样的人主张关闭Ijtihād之门时,仍有mujtahidin和学者存在。然而,从伊斯兰历第7世纪初到第13世纪末,衰落已经完全,但仍在伊斯兰的范围之内。衰落体现在思想上,但教法意见仍然是伊斯兰的。至于第13世纪之后,即从伊斯兰历1274年至今,衰落已达到这样的地步:Sharī'ah的律法与非伊斯兰的法律相混杂,局势陷入了最糟糕的衰败状态。
Rather, they believed that the door of Ijtihād should be closed for the Muslims. They held that Ijtihād was not permitted until many of the ‘Ulamā from amongst those who were qualified for Ijtihād and who had the aptitude for Ijtihād did not dare to perform Ijtihād or say that they were mujtahids. This decline started towards the end of the 4th century A.H, although in the beginning until the end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 7th there was some progress. Mujtahidin and scholars were present at a time when the likes of al-Qaffal were advocating the closing of the door of Ijtihād. However, from the beginning of the 7th century until the end of the 13th century A.H the decline was complete but it was within the limits of Islam. The decline was in thought but the jurisprudential opinions remained Islamic. As for after the 13th century i.e, from 1274 A.H. till now, the decline has reached the point where the Sharī’ah rules have become mixed with unIslamic laws and the situation reached the worst possible state of decline.
正是由于这种教法学的衰落，人们难以遵行伊斯兰教法的规定。伊斯兰教法本已足以适用于全世界，但后来却使其信徒也感到困难，以至于他们被迫采用其他与之不相符的法律。许多虔诚的穆斯林开始提到一种并非伊斯兰教法的“教法”。
到奥斯曼帝国末期，伊斯兰知识的匮乏和无知的教法学家，是穆斯林落后和国家衰亡的主要原因。当时有些教法学家僵化保守，总是随时准备颁布禁令，禁止任何新事物，并压制任何思想家的思想。其中一件荒唐而令人痛惜的事情是：咖啡出现时，一些学者颁布教令禁止饮用；吸烟出现时，他们颁布教令予以禁止；人们戴上毡帽时，教法学家又宣布戴毡帽为非法；印刷术出现后，国家决定印刷《古兰经》，一些教法学家却禁止印刷。电话发明后，一些教法学家又禁止人们通过电话交谈，类似的问题接踵而至。
其结果是，穆斯林对伊斯兰教法学变得完全陌生。研究的重心从学习伊斯兰教法的规定转向研究西方法律。法学院也相继设立；这些学校在穆斯林国家的存在，是他们的耻辱。到奥斯曼帝国末期，伊斯兰国家及其领袖哈里发决定在法典编纂上效仿西方法学。因此，他们于1282年（伊历）引入《迈贾拉》作为民法，并于1293年（伊历）颁布诏令使其生效；在此之前，他们已于1274年（伊历）制定了奥斯曼刑法典。他们以此取代了哈德刑、刑事赔偿（jinayat）和酌情惩罚（ta'zeer）。1276年（伊历）…… H. 他们引入了《权利与商业法》。随后，他们于1294年（伊历）颁布宪法，意图彻底废除哈里发制度。然而，哈里发制度被废除后，于1326年（伊历，公历1908年）得以重新设立。不过，他们试图使其与伊斯兰教相符，并保留了哈里发制度。如此一来，伊斯兰教法学（fiqh，意为理解）衰落了，沦为教条，沙里亚的律例被抛弃，人们却以“与伊斯兰教相符”为借口采纳了其他来源的律例。一种错误的观念随之盛行：凡与伊斯兰教相符的，无论出自何人之手，都可以采纳。乌莱玛的热忱也随之减退，他们全都沦为了追随者（muqallidin）。然而，这被视为处于伊斯兰的庇护之下。但在哈里发制度终结，以及异教徒英国人和法国人占领穆斯林土地之后，穆斯林国家变成了以民族主义为基础建立的国家，无论是阿拉伯的、土耳其的还是伊朗的等等。伊斯兰教法学从人们的社会关系、教育和学术中被彻底抹去。它只在某些国家得到研习，例如埃及的艾资哈尔大学、伊拉克的纳杰夫、突尼斯的宰土纳大学，但其研习方式与研习希腊哲学无异。自伊斯兰教法学从人们的社会关系中消失以来，这种衰落已达到令人震惊的程度。
It was due to this jurisprudential decline that it made it difficult for people to act upon the Sharī’ah rules. So after the Islamic Sharī’ah had been sufficient for the entire world they made it difficult even for its adherents until they were forced to accomodate other laws which are not a match to it. Many pious Muslims began to refer to a Sharī’ah which was not the Islamic Sharī’ah. Towards the end of the ‘Uthmani state it was the ignorance of Islam and the ignorant fuqaha which was the principle reason for the backwardness of the Muslims and the end of their state. There were fuqaha who were rigid and always ready to give fatwa forbidding anything new and forbid the thoughts of any thinker. One of the curiously ludicrous and lamentable thing that happened was that when coffee appeared some scholars gave fatwa forbidding it and when smoking appeared they gave the fatwa of prohibition and when people wore the fez the fuqaha gave the fatwa that it was forbidden to wear it and when the printing press appeared and the state decided to print copies of the Qur’ān some fuqaha forbade it to be printed. The telephone was invented and some fuqaha forbade people to speak through it and many other issues followed. Until the consequence in Islamic jurisprudence was that the Muslims became completely ignorant of it. The issue changed from studying the Sharī’ah rules to studying Western laws. And law schools were founded; schools whose presence in the Muslims countries was a shameful blot for them and towards the end of the ‘Uthmani state - the Islamic state and its leader the Khalifah of the Muslims - decided to imitate Western jurisprudence in the codification of law. Thus they introduced the Majalla in 1282 A.H as a civil law and a grand edict was issued in 1293 A.H to put it into effect and before that they had drawn up the Ottoman penal code in 1274 A.H. They introduced that in place of the hudud, criminal (jinayat) and discretionary punishments (ta’zeer). And in 1276 A.H. they introduced the Law of Rights and Commerce. Then they introduced the constitution in order to abolish the Khilafah system in its entirety in 1294 A.H. However, it was abolished and then reinstituted in 1326 A.H. (1908 C.E.). However, they tried to make it agree with Islam and mantained the Khilafah system. In this way, fiqh (comprehension) declined and became canon’s and the Sharī’ah rules were abandoned and rules other than from Islam were adopted under the pretext that they agreed with Islam. An erroneous notion became prevalent that whatever agrees with Islam it is taken from any human being and the zeal of the ‘Ulamā waned and they, all of them, became muqallidin (followers). However, that was seen as coming under the shadow of Islam. But after the end of the Khilafah and the kuffār ’s occupation, the English and French, of the Muslim lands. Then the Muslims countries came to be states founded on a nationalistic basis whether Arab, Turk or Iranian etc. The Islamic fiqh was wiped out from existence from the relationships of people and from education and learning. It was not studied except in certain countries, such as al-Azhar in Egypt, Najaf in Iraq, Zaytuna in Tunisia, however they were studied in the same manner as Greek philosophy was studied. The decline reached shocking levels since the Islamic fiqh vanished from existence from people’s relationships.