[bradthebuilder]

I hadn't thought of Spain. I was thinking more of the Byzantine Greek lands in modern day Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, etc. The high point islamic culture may have been based in a large part on the Greek culture the arabian nomads conquered. Much like various races conquered China, installed themselves as emperors, and eventually became Chinese.

[RayChuang88]

We do know that a lot of old Greek and Roman texts ended up in the hands of the early Muslims almost by default, thanks to the fact the Arabian peninsula was essentially the trading crossroads for Eurasia and the east coast of Africa. As such, those early probably got the texts as trade for goods from Asia (silk, spices, etc.).