kemunduran
History of Science and
Technology
in Islam
Introduction
The
contributions of Islamic scientists and technologists in the varied
fields of knowledge were fascinating and are discussed in the various
histories of science[2].
These contributions, using mainly the medium of Arabic, were made by a
wide variety of individuals — Muslim and non-Muslim — living in a
multinational and multiracial society.
The
universal religion of Islam provided the matrix within which the
multiracial and multicultural Islamic society could subscribe to a
universal science. The ethnic and cultural diversity of the Islamic
world was a source of strength and creativity to the movement of
scientists, ideas and products.
The
introduction of efficient and extensive means of transportation
facilitated the expansion of trade and the movement of people and
ideas. These advances in transport and trade gave force to the universal
precepts of Islam by facilitating the transfer of knowledge within the
Islamic world; and also to the widely different cultures of India, China
and Europe.
The locus
of scientific creativity in the Muslim world was not fixed. Centres of
considerable scientific activity flourished at different times and were
generally closely associated with the seat of power. During the Umayyad
and Abbasid periods, the capitals of the Islamic world attracted
scholars and scientists. In modern parlance, there was a brain drain to
Damascus and Baghdad. Once the centres of power moved to Cairo, Spain,
Persia (Mongolian period) and Istanbul, the flow of scientists followed
there.
During the
first centuries of Islam, the rulers pursued policies which promoted
rationality, communications, trade and economic prosperity. These
policies increased the demand for science and technology. Almost every
aspect of life — from agriculture to health and prayers — depended on
some scientific or technical activity.
The
decline, which set in after a combination of internal and external
circumstances and conditions, caused a decrease in the demand for
science and technology.
Science Thrives Only in Affluent
Societies
The Thesis of Ibn Khaldun
The
challenging question that is always asked is: what were the causes of
the decline of scientific work in Islam, and why did the gap in modern
science and technology become so great between the West and Islam from
the end of the sixteenth century? This is a complex question which
cannot be dealt with fully in this paper, but we shall venture to
discuss some aspects of the decline which, it is hoped, will stimulate
further research into this question.
At the time
when scientific communities in Europe were on the increase, all the
regions of Islam were witnessing the decline of science and of
scientific communities. This phenomenon is discussed by Ibn Khaldūn in
more than one chapter in his Introduction (al-Muqaddima).[3]
He discusses the factors which are essential to the flourishing of the
sciences and the other professions, and the factors which lead to their
decline. One chapter carries the title: `That the Professions are
Perfected and Become Plenty when the Demand for them Increases.'
[4]
He says that if a profession is in great demand, people will try to
learn it, whereas if there is no demand for a profession it will be
neglected and will disappear. `There is here another secret, and it is
that the professions and their perfection are demanded by the state,
which is the greatest marketplace for the professions', and the needs of
the state are so great that the demands of private individuals are too
small in comparison, which means that when the state declines all
professions decline as well. Another chapter carries the title: `That
Regions which Approach a Ruinous State will Become Devoid of the
Professions.'
[5]
When a region becomes
weakened, loses its affluence, and its population decreases, the
professions will diminish, because they can no longer be afforded, until
they finally disappear. He devotes a special chapter to the sciences
under the title: `That the Sciences Increase with the Increase in
Prosperity and with the Greatness of Civilization in a Region.'
[6]
After a discussion of
his theory he says: `Let us consider what we have known about conditions
in Baghdad, Cordoba, al-Qairawan, al-Basra, and al-Kufa. When these
cities became populous and prosperous in the first centuries of Islam
and civilization became established in them, the seas of science rose
and overflowed and scientists marvelled in the terminology and the
technicalities of learning and of the various sciences, and in devising
various problems and theories until they excelled over the ancients and
surpassed those who came after. But when the prosperity of these cities
and their civilization decreased and when their population was
dispersed, that carpet, with all that was on it, was completely folded
and science and learning were lost in them and moved to other regions of
Islam.' In discussing the rational sciences, Ibn Khaldūn gives the same
analysis, and he remarks that when the empire became established, and
when Islamic civilization surpassed all others, Muslims studied eagerly
the rational sciences of the ancients until they excelled over them. He
remarks that during his time (the second half of the fourteenth
century), the rational sciences in the Maghrib and in al-Andalus were
diminishing because prosperity in these regions was at a low level,
whereas in the Eastern regions of Islam, especially in Persia and beyond
to Transoxania, the rational sciences were flourishing because of the
prosperity of these regions and the stability of their civilization. Ibn
Khaldūn was aware also that during his time, the rational sciences in
Rome, and in Europe in general, were in great demand, and that there
existed in these countries active scientific communities.
[7]
The ideas
of Ibn Khaldun are repeated by modern scholars. Thus Bernal in his book
Science in History
[8]
repeats in a similar argument that `Science's flourishing periods are
found to coincide with economic activity and technical advance. The
track science had followed - from Egypt and Mesopotamia to Greece, from
Islamic Spain to Renaissance Italy, thence to the Low Countries and
France, and then to Scotland and England of the Industrial Revolution -
is the same as that of commerce and industry. Between the bursts of
activity there have been quiet times, sometimes periods of degeneration.
These coincide with periods when the organization of society was
stagnant or decadent.'
http://www.history-science-technology.com/articles/articles%208.htm
http://www.history-science-technology.com/articles/articles%208.htm
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