Eighth to the Sixteenth Century - Rashid Islamic Center

146 • The Making of Islamic ScienceLutfullah Mosque, Isfahan, Iran, was the private mosque of the Safavidrulers. It was connected with the palace through an undergroundtunnel.eighth and the eighteenth centuries; there are thousands more aboutwhom we have no information or of whom we merely know the namesand their works’ titles. There are over 200,000 manuscripts in Iranalone, of which about three-quarters are as yet uncatalogued. “In1994,” King writes, “during my research on the first world-map, theindex to a 21 volume catalogue of over 8,000 manuscripts in thepublic library of Âyâtallah al-Uzma Ma‘rashi Najafi in Qum landedon my desk. There are over 400 titles relating to mathematics andastronomy, including some of the works hitherto thought to be lost”(King 1999, 4, n. 4 and 5). King’s book alone cites 9,002 instruments,over 80 manuscripts, and 38 pages of bibliography.The “Why” QuestionThe “why” question is much harder to answer. Existing literatureabout the causes of decline of science in Islamic civilization tells usthat it was due to (i) opposition by “Islamic orthodoxy”; (ii) a bookwritten by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali; (iii) the Mongol invasion ofBaghdad in 1258; (iv) the lack of institutional support for science;(v) the disappearance of patrons; or (vi) some inherent flaw in Islam