FACTORS BEHIND THE DECLINE OF ISLAMIC SCIENCE AFTER THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

The contributions of Islamic scientists and technologists in the varied fields of knowledge were fascinating and are discussed in the various histories of science. These contributions of science, 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.
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 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 can be confirmed by law of supply and demand. After sixteenth century, the demand in science in Europe increase and Muslim world just witnessed it. The stability, prosperity and civilization of Muslim countries before created a great demand in science and make scientific community more active. The decrease of interest in the rational sciences and the continued interest in the study of the religious sciences are unrelated EVEN THOUGH strongly influence the society. The decrease interest in science was actually a symptom of the economic weakness of the Islamic states and of their decreasing political power.
High demand and need for science and technology was during the Golden Age of the Islamic Empire. The rational sciences would have continued to progress without interruption. In Islam, there was no single religious authority that controlled the whole educational system, and this left the system free and not dominated by orthodoxy. The rise of scientists and the flourishing of the rational sciences in the Golden Age reflected the prosperity of the empire and its strength, and the large number of mathematicians, astronomers, physicians, engineers and other kinds of scientists was in response to the needs of society and of the empire in that period. Can Malaysia repeat the history? Or let everybody just talk politic!