Muslim civilization made wonderful contributions to the world’s civilizations for more than a thousand years since its inception in 7th century. However, there is a wide spread misconception that Muslims’ contributions are limited to the 7th–13th century time frame, and that Muslims are suffering a stead decline since then. One of the dates chosen to make this point is 1258 C.E., the year Baghdad was sacked by the Mongol armies. In fact there is no doubt that there was a decline in Muslim civilization in 13th century, and also that the onslaught of the Mongol armies was a major disaster for Muslim political power, however, it is a historical fact that Muslims recovered very quickly and asserted themselves successfully in 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.
Another favorite date chosen to mark the stead Muslim decline is 1492 C.E., the year Muslims were expelled from Granada. Once again, the fall of Granada was definitely a major setback for Muslims, however, it is interesting to note that the Muslims' civilization and their political power reached to another peak point during the 16th century!
There are in fact essential differences between the contributions of Muslims in pre-1258 and post-1258 eras. During both eras, Muslim civilization excelled in cultural, political, educational and religious domains. However, during the first era, i.e., 7th–13th centuries, the contributions in the scientific and technological domains were outstanding, while during the second era, i.e., 14th–17th centuries, there was more focus in the fields of architecture, arts, and military technology. Furthermore, using some hypothetical civilizational index, the overall ‘amplitude’ of the peak during the post-1258 era may be a bit lesser than that of pre-1258 era. However, a comparison of the other contemporary world civilizations during both eras reveals that Muslim civilization was always one of the most outstanding civilizations during 7th–17th centuries. The only other noteworthy competitor to Muslim civilization during those thousand years was Chinese civilization. (European renaissance may have begun in 13th–16th centuries, however, up to the advent of the 18th century the footprint of the European nations in the Old World was very limited.) Muslim civilization then started declining in 18th century coinciding with the decline of Ottomons, Safavids, Mughals, and Malay Kingdoms.
In this blog, we will highlight the splendor of the Muslim civilization during 14th–17th centuries. We will also compare its achievements and contributions to the world with that of other contemporary civilizations during that era.
