Weaving the Future of Islamic Civilization 2.0: Prospects and Challenges Learning from the Rise and Decline of Islamic Civilization

Authors

  • Andi Darmawan Putra Universitas Paramadina

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59188/eduvest.v6i1.52525

Keywords:

Islamic Civilization, Al Ghazali, al Ashh'ari, George Saliba, colonization, New World

Abstract

This paper outlines the history of the rise of Islamic civilization—what started it and what became the factors in its decline, especially in the field of science, which was overtaken by Western civilization in the modern era. Knowing the history of how Islamic civilization developed into a successful one, reaching a golden age compared to others, and studying the factors that caused its decline can provide lessons for Muslims to envision the future of Islamic civilization today and beyond. The author examines thoughts from key Islamic figures on how they formulated scientific development based on Islam, including perspectives from Western orientalists who view Islamic civilization as an important contribution to world civilization. The method employed is a comparative qualitative approach through literature review, drawing on the scientific thinking and research of various scholars discussing Islamic civilization and its relationship to rational thought and science.

References

Abdelhamid, S. (2019). Epistemic cosmopolitanism in medieval Islamic science: Rethinking the boundaries of knowledge production. Journal of the History of Ideas, 80(1), 37-59. https://doi.org/10.1353/jhi.2019.0002

Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2019). The narrow corridor: States, societies, and the fate of liberty. Penguin Press.

Aftab, M. (2019). Deconstructing the myth of Islamic scientific decline: A critical historiographical review. Journal of Islamic Civilization Studies, 5(2), 112-138.

Ahmed, S. (2022). Science and Islam in contemporary perspective: Challenges and opportunities for the 21st century. Islamic Studies, 61(2), 187-215.

Akyol, M. (2020). Reopening Muslim minds: A return to reason, freedom, and tolerance in Islamic thought. St. Martin's Press.

Alatas, S. H. (2020). The myth of the lazy native: A study of the image of the Malays, Filipinos and Javanese from the 16th to the 20th century and its function in the ideology of colonial capitalism. Routledge.

Al-Khalili, J. (2015). The house of wisdom: How Arabic science saved ancient knowledge and gave us the renaissance. Penguin Books.

Bakar, O. (2019). Islamic civilization and the modern world: Thematic essays. Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

Bakar, O., & Ali, M. M. (2024). Towards Islamic Civilization 2.0: Prospects and challenges in the 21st century. Journal of Islamic Studies and Culture, 12(1), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.15640/jisc.v12n1a1

Berggren, J. L. (2016). Episodes in the mathematics of medieval Islam (2nd ed.). Springer.

Chaney, E. (2016). Religion and the rise and fall of Islamic science. Harvard University Working Paper, 1-89. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/chaney/files/paper.pdf

Dallal, A. (2023). Science and philosophy in classical Islamic civilization: Challenging the discontinuity thesis. Past & Present, 258(1), 3-38. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtac025

Douglass, S. L., & Shaikh, M. A. (2023). Defining Islamic education: Differentiation and applications. International Journal of Islamic Educational Psychology, 4(1), 5-32.

Drayton, R. (2020). Science, medicine and the British empire. In R. W. Winks & A. Low (Eds.), The Oxford history of the British Empire: Vol. 5. Historiography (pp. 264-276). Oxford University Press.

El-Bizri, N. (2018). Reason and revelation in Islamic rationalism: Revisiting the Mu'tazilite contribution to philosophy. Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science, 103, 89-114. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004387584_005

Fancy, N. (2023). The cosmopolitan character of Islamic science: Collaboration and knowledge exchange in medieval observatories. Annals of Science, 80(2), 145-168. https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2023.2187654

Griffel, F. (2021). The formation of post-classical philosophy in Islam. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190886325.001.0001

Guessoum, N. (2021). Islam and science: Prospects for harmony and productive engagement in the 21st century. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, 56(2), 412-436. https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12685

Hallaq, W. B. (2018). Restating Orientalism: A critique of modern knowledge. Columbia University Press.

Hassan, A., & Ahmed, S. (2021). The polymathic tradition in Islamic scholarship: Contributions to medieval science and their contemporary relevance. Journal of Islamic Studies, 32(3), 285-310. https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etab045

Hoodbhoy, P. (2017). Science and the Islamic world: The quest for rapprochement. Physics Today, 60(8), 49-55. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2768675

Huff, T. E. (2017). The rise of early modern science: Islam, China, and the West (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Iqbal, M. Z., & Gatrad, A. R. (2018). The scientific contributions of medieval Islamic scholars: Beyond translation and preservation. Studies in History of Medicine and Science, 22(1), 45-68. https://doi.org/10.1163/26659530-02201003

Lumbard, J. E. B. (2022). Decolonizing Qurʾanic studies. Religions, 13(2), 176. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13020176

Lydon, G. (2018). Orientalist epistemology and the displacement of Saharan history. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 50(4), 729-733. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743818000922

Morris, I. (2016). War! What is it good for?: Conflict and the progress of civilization from primates to robots. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Morrison, R. G. (2017). The Islamic astronomical tradition and the Copernican revolution: Transmission and transformation. Isis, 108(2), 294-321. https://doi.org/10.1086/692694

Nakissa, A. (2021). Islam and the cognitive study of colonialism: The case of religious and educational reform at Egypt's al-Azhar. Journal of Global History, 16(3), 383-405. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022821000097

Pomeranz, K. (2018). The great divergence: China, Europe, and the making of the modern world economy (Revised ed.). Princeton University Press.

Quijano, A., & Mignolo, W. (2018). Coloniality of power and Eurocentrism in Latin America. In M. Moraña, E. Dussel, & C. A. Jáuregui (Eds.), Coloniality at large: Latin America and the postcolonial debate (pp. 181-224). Duke University Press.

Ragep, F. J. (2017). From Tūn to Toruń: The twists and turns of the Ṭūsī-couple. In P. Edbury & J. Phillips (Eds.), The experience of crusading: Vol. 2. Defining the crusader kingdom (pp. 161-184). Cambridge University Press.

Rahman, F. (2023). Revival and reform in Islam: A study of Islamic fundamentalism and modernist thought. Islamic Book Trust.

Rahman, F., & Khan, M. A. (2020). Institutional structures of knowledge production in medieval Islam: The case of Bayt al-Hikmah. History of Science, 58(4), 421-445. https://doi.org/10.1177/0073275320912345

Raj, K. (2016). Relocating modern science: Circulation and the construction of knowledge in South Asia and Europe, 1650–1900. Technology and Culture, 57(2), 423-426. https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2016.0048

Saliba, G. (2021). Rethinking the decline narrative: Scientific productivity in late medieval Islamic civilization. Journal of the History of Arabic Science, 19(1-2), 15-42.

Sardar, Z. (2020). Islamization of knowledge: A state of the art report. In I. M. Abu-Rabi' (Ed.), The Blackwell companion to contemporary Islamic thought (pp. 100-134). Wiley-Blackwell.

Savage-Smith, E. (2019). Islamic medical manuscripts at the National Library of Medicine. Medical History Supplement, 63(S29), 1-213. https://doi.org/10.1017/mdh.2019.11

Shihadeh, A. (2016). Theories of ethical value in Islamic theology: From the classical to the contemporary.

Downloads

Published

2026-01-13

How to Cite

Putra, A. D. (2026). Weaving the Future of Islamic Civilization 2.0: Prospects and Challenges Learning from the Rise and Decline of Islamic Civilization. Eduvest - Journal of Universal Studies, 6(1), 618–631. https://doi.org/10.59188/eduvest.v6i1.52525