Some remarks on Islamic scientific manuscripts and instruments and past, present, and future research

There are an estimated 10,000 scientific manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish which, together with about 1,000 astronomical instruments, constitute the major sources for our knowledge of the exact sciences, astronomy and mathematics, in Islamic civilization. Most of these manuscripts and instruments date from after the most creative period of Islamic science, which spans the eighth to the fifteenth century. However, some late manuscripts also preserve for us earlier works which would otherwise be lost, and some late instruments bear features known to us only from early texts.