Eighth to the Sixteenth Century - Rashid Islamic Center

154 • The Making of Islamic ScienceThe reconfiguration of the Muslim world in the post-Mongolera would eventually give rise to three powerful empires: the Safavi(1135–1722), the Indian Timuri (1274–1857), and the Ottoman (1343–1924). These empires extended over a vast area and were extremelyrich and resourceful. They patronized the arts and sciences and viedagainst each other to attract the best minds of the time. In addition,several other smaller states and dynasties supported science. Yet,none of these empires was able to compete with the developments inscience that were taking place after the fifteenth century in Europe.When they did realize the enormous military and economic benefitsEuropeans had reaped with their science and technology, it wasalready too late; better-trained European armies, equipped withsuperior weapons, were already knocking at their doors.The rapidity with which the situation changed for Muslims isevident from the fact that at the beginning of the eighteenth century,the entire Middle East, a large part of Africa, the whole middle beltof Asia, and the Malayan archipelago were under Muslim control,but by the end of that fateful century, a large part of this territoryhad come under Russian, British, French, Portuguese, and Dutchinfluence or direct control; by the middle of the nineteenth century,there was nothing left of the power, might, and splendor of the oldMuslim world. It is against this background that the new Islam andscience discourse must be viewed.In addition to the developments within the Muslim world, thenew Islam and science discourse was influenced by the enormouschanges that took place in Europe through the application of newlydiscovered scientific knowledge. The work of Isaac Newton (1642–1727) made a tremendous impact. Two centuries of European sciencefound a new synthesis: the natural world began to lose its qualitativeaspect. Instead of form and matter, the four qualities, and the fourelements, equations and numbers now started to gain centerstage.The Newtonian Revolution transformed the nature of science.Newton had shown in the 1680s that the orbits of the planets arethe result of an attractive force between the sun and each planet, thusbringing into science a revolutionary concept: gravity. Conceived asa force that worked in a universal manner, whether the bodies onwhich it operated were heavenly or not, gravity was one of the main