Among the Causes of the Weakness of the Muslim Ummah in Our Present Time

Question:
May Allah reward you for your question. It says: “O honorable Shaykh, why has the condition of the Muslim ummah (the Muslim community) weakened in our present time, and what are the causes of this, and how can it be raised up and moved forward?”

Answer:
Answer: The causes are many. The first is: the further time recedes and the further people are from the era of those who came before them from among the people of the Sunnah and the community, the weaker their following becomes, due to the long gap between them and the Salaf (the earliest generations) of the ummah. The second is: the multitude of desires and the multitude of misguided sects. In our present era, the means of media have also emerged, carrying much evil and fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). Those who receive them and those who look at them as religious culture, or as a broadening of the horizon, or the like, are affected by them.