[nycgal]

Once they started focusing on converting the world to Islam, at pain of death, they began their own destruction. If it wasn't for the infidel they wouldn't have the technology and knowledge to drill for oil.

[marsh_of_mists]

Once they started focusing on converting the world to Islam, at pain of death, they began their own destruction.

That would mean that they began their own destruction the minute Mohammed and his followers attacked and converted the city of Mecca. Islam has had a tendency to be at war with neighboring civilizations from the very beginning. Don't let yourselves be fooled! So their architects were good at architecture and their mathematicians at math at one point. In the meantime, their sheikhs were leading invading armies riled up by the preaching of their imams.

Furthermore, the Islamic world's a big place. Which Islamic culture are we talking about here? Arabian? Andalusian? Persian? Turkish? Mameluk Egypt? The Persians have tended to be more advanced than most others, the Arab conquerors building upon the already 1000 year old Zoroastrian Persian civilization. But the Ottoman Turks? That's another story.

[Spirochete]

If it wasn't for the infidel they wouldn't have the technology and knowledge to drill for oil.

They still don't have the technology to drill for oil.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Yes, should they actually succeed in taking over the globe, they will bring themselves down in debauchery and ruin.