ICR 6.2 Produced and distributed by IAIS Malaysia THE RISE AND DECLINE OF SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTIVITY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

Abstract:Scientific productivity has been in decline in the Muslim world since as early as the 15th century and is only now reviving. Many factors have been attributed to the rise and decline, falling under two broad categories: external and internal influences. The popular understanding of scientific decline in the Muslim world, known as the 'classical narrative ' promulgated by orientalists, suggests that only external influences – mainly the synthesis of Persian and Greek elements of civilisation into the Arab imperialist project – were the reasons for the sharp rise of the sciences within Islamic civilisation. Simultaneously, this narrative also suggests that internal influences, exemplified in the impact of Al-Ghazālī’s thought towards a more conservative religious approach, as opposed to the more 'rationalist ' elements of the Mutazilite School of theology – played the most significant role in decline. This paper shows that the classical narrative is invalid, that there were more legitimate factors at play in both the rise and decline of science in the Muslim world, and that the contemporary stagnation in scientific productivity is a result of this misunderstanding