As numerous studies have shown, the European colonial paradigm of writing Arab history, according to which a golden age of greatness was followed by an epoch of stagnation or even decline in the post-Abbasid era, was internalized by the emerging intelligentsia of the naḥḍa to become an integral part of Arab histo-riography, public discourse, and historical imagination more largely. Although the motives, subjects and specific arguments may vary, a general thematic of decline continues to pervade the relevant literature to this very day.