According to Fuat Sezgin, the concept of the “Creative Age” of Islam

The debate over the reasons for the decline of the Islamic civilization and sciences has been going on for many years. The scientists, the majority of whom are orientalists, have been doing studies on this topic in many countries of Europe. However in general, the reasons for the decline of the Islamic sciences are addressed from a European-centric perspective. Therefore, this situation causes objections of some Muslim scholars. Prof. Dr. Fuat Sezgin is a historian of science who has pondered on this subject. Sezgin claims that, unlike Western researchers, the Islamic sciences do not decline but simply stagnate. He reinforces this claim with various arguments. He divides the development process of the Islamic sciences into long periods, which he conceptualizes by giving the name the Creative Age. According to Sezgin, each period has its own characteristic features. It is not possible to reveal and interpret the factors affecting the decline of the Islamic civilization and sciences without understanding them fully.The period that Sezgin describes as the Creative Age covers the VIII-XVII centuries in general. Many Western scientists consider that the Golden Age of the Islamic Civilization is VIII-X centuries. According to them, only these two centuries are the peak period of the Islamic civilization in the field of science. Sezgin objects to this and opposes the concept of Renaissance. He argues that Muslims were far superior to the West in mapping and cartography during the period when the Islamic civilization was thought to have declined. In the creative age, Muslims are at the forefront with the unique sciences of each century. For Example, Muslims were at an advanced level in Arabic grammar in the first century AH and in chemistry and alchemy in the second century AH. Sezgin managed to show the place of the Islamic civilization in the history of sciences with his seventeen volume collection, Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums, which included a catalogue of Muslim scholars and their works.This study focuses on Sezgin s thoughts on the reasons of the decline of the Islamic sciences and also the content of his own concept of creative age. In this study, in general, Sezgin s approach to the development of the Islamic Civilization and sciencesand his originality in interpreting the facts that cause this process to stagnate is aimed. In the preparation of the article, the works containing the classical views on the history of civilization and science, the works of the historians of civilization and Sezgin s lectures and interviews on the history of science have also been used.