[SunkenCiv]

The city had approximately one million residents, and the army massacred many of them. It was a horrendous act that, in one fell swoop, brought an end to the Islamic Golden Age.

IOW, it was a huge break for the rest of the world. Thanks fieldmarshaldj for the ping, thanks vannrox for the topic.

• Ed Husain on the British Museum and "The True Face of Islam"
• Cubs, CAIR To Work Together Against Islamophobia (barf)

[colorado tanker]

If those guys were so smart and focused on learning, they didn't know not to piss off a Mongol army? A few books short of a library, I'd say.

Interesting thought experiment to speculate what might have been if this empire had continued to the time of the Ottoman Empire. Might it have been a rival? But, that assumes Mongols would not act like Mongols and a dumb@$$ Caliph wasn't a, well . . .