A little history— The decline of the Islamic Empire was the fault of Christopher Columbus. Pre-Columbus, Europeans had to pass through all Islamic territories on the trade routes to the East, in which they paid a heavy price. After Columbus, new resources began coming from the New World, and Europeans started circumnavigating around Africa, which started the slow decline of the Islamic Empire. It was not until Europeans discovered oil in the Middle East that brought the Middle East back to some relevance in the world.