Reviving the Institution of ‘Science’ in Islamic Civilization after
Mongol Invasion: The Case of Tabriz Rabe Rashidi University
Abstract
The Mongol invasion caused great devastation and significant social
change in the eastern parts of the Islamic world, where scientific
organizations did consequently suffer irreparable damage. Using
ahistorical-comparative method, the present paper purported to study the
model of reconstruction of scientific organizations in post-Mongol
invasion era in Iran with emphasis on Rabe Rashidi University of Tabriz.
Given that the institution of ‘science’ for flourishing and sustaining
the continuum of progress requires the constant presence of a conducive
social and political context as well as economic foundations and
institutionalized knowledge-oriented values in society, after the Mongol
invasion and positioning of Tabriz as a political center and capital
city, Rashid al-Din Fazlullah Hamadani in the capacity of Ilkhanid
chancellor expended a great deal of effort to contribute to the
development and management of each of the afore-mentioned elements. He
aptly combined and augmented the efficacy of the then available ‘raw
materials’ via molding them into an educational organization and
reframed the dispersed and informal endowments into a formal academic
organization to be utilized by the educational departments and all those
involved in Rabe Rashidi. Preparing a conducive educational environment,
delineating organizational goals, organizing the space and time of the
training groups, developing educational curricula, planning for the
methods and quality of teaching, managing classes, and assigning
students into cohorts according to their talents and interests were some
of the management skills of Rashid al-Din, just to name some. The
accomplishments of Rabe Rashidi University in acquiring Chinese and
Mongolian sciences and integrating them into the legacy of Islamic
sciences besides its special relationship with Byzantium had made Rabe
Rashidi one of the channels for the transfer of Islamic knowledge to
Europe.