The Achievements of the Islamic Golden Age

[Mott the Hoople]

What do you remember about Modern European history in the 200 years following the Protestant Reformation?

Fairly well. It’s known as the Enlightenment era.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

It is a complex socio-economic-cultural issue.

History tells us that imperialism and colonialism constrains and retards socio-economic development. I wonder how much colonialization in the Arab world constrained their development - first by the Mongols, then by the Ottomans, then by the British and French.

Had not the Mongol catastrophe occurred that depopulated vast regions of the Islamic world the Colonization of the ME by Western powers probably wouldn’t have happened.

 

[Celticguy]

Things were going well till Mohammad came along.
He put an end to that shite!
Down the toilet every since.

 

[Cypress]

Interesting discussion; thanks for starting it. I have always wondered how the glory of the Arabic people, with all of their accomplishments in mathematics and science, could have degraded so badly since. I wonder how much the rise of fundamentalist Islam had to do with that. Fundamentalism seems to turn human minds away from present reality and the wonders of this life. Its adherents set their eyes on the next realm, rather than rejoicing in this one.

Apparently, you are correct at least in part.

According to Professor Gearon, the Islamic Golden Age ended when the Abbasid caliphate disintegrated (and as Mott said the Mongole invaded), as well as a host of other foreign influences, crusador armies, economics and finances, a rise of conservative religious orthodoxy with a commensurate decline in liberal tolerance and enlightenment, and a host of other reasons I need to learn about.

"although it’s called the Islamic Golden Age, its greatest successes came about when Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scholars lived and studied side by side. Conversely, whenever individual rulers abandoned this generally enlightened atmosphere of mutual tolerance and respect, their regimes soon suffered an attendant loss of status and greatness" - Eamonn Gearon, Johns Hopkins University