[Monty22]

The most sobering, and saddest part of this article is that 20% of humanity is so depraved to be in this cult.

[isthisnickcool]

They are good at building suicide belts.... /s off

[Cronos]

From 800 AD to 1500, Arabic was the language of science, as English is today. Muslims occupied Spain, and Europeans flocked to Toledo and other Spanish cities, or traveled great distances to Baghdad or Damascus, to translate Islamic science and medical books into Latin.

Yeah right, they forget that the reason for this was that the slamics had conquered the part of the world that was scientifically adept -- India, Persia, Byzantium, Egypt, GReece. In actuality, slam had a negative effect -- these countries were irrevocably affected by this conquest and the societies decayed -- Persia for example which was once the noblest civilisation in the world, was savaged by slam.

[John Frum]

--- The quality of education has declined, with many schools teaching mainly
interpretations of the Koran, rather than other knowledge or skills.

Goes to show you that the koran isn't knowledge or a useful skill, rather its akin to worship of the angry moon god.

[KellyAdmirer]

"We believe that, for dishonorable purposes, there is in the West an intention to ignore the important scientific role played by Muslim scholars during the medieval age," said Abdul Nasser Kaadan

Nobody really cares about the medieval age except you guys - because you still live in it. Give it a rest, Abdul, your culture hasn't advanced science in the last thousand years and you have absolutely no excuses, that's why your culture has turned into one of death rather than a hopeful one of life. Ponder what your cities would look like WITHOUT the fortuity of sitting on lakes of oil and report back to me.

[Made In The USA]

Compelling evidence that Islam is the official religion of the Darwin Award.

[Fzob]

Interesting

There seems to be a close relationship between the rise of Islam and the decline of Arab society.

Imagine that.

[livius]

Pre-Islamic Arabs and Persians were famed for their scientific knowledge and interest (the Magi who came to see the Infant Jesus were supposedly Persian astronomers). The Middle East was not called the "Cradle of Civilization" for nothing, and those areas were way ahead of Northern Europe in their development, with written legal codes, scientific investigation, trade, etc.

Islam killed it off wherever it became dominant, with the resulting stagnation of the Arab world that we see today. It only lasted a little longer in Spain because many Spanish Muslims were not completely orthodox, and there was the presence of a large non-Islamic population. Even in Spain, Arab learning was stamped out by successive invasions of other - more orthodox and more ignorant - North African Muslims.

We must all remember that "Arab" and "Persian" are NOT synonomous with "Muslim."

[CzarNicky]

I suppose if I conquered a bunch of people with greater scientific knowledge than my own I would be considered advanced before the host was killed.

[Chewbacca]

If I was able to live on less than $2 a day, I would consider myself quite rich.

Inflation must not be much of a problem if $2 or less is all it costs to feed and house someone per day.

[Vinnie_Vidi_Vici]

It was easier for them to dominate science back then, there were only 4 elements...Earth, wind, fire, & water.

[RightWhale]

Breaking news, no doubt. Why did the Arabs turn from science to mysticism? Oh, wait, so did the West. Science is too hard.

[ApplegateRanch]

...and the Spanish created gold, and made silver, in factories they built in the New World. They lost the technology when their colonial empire crashed.

I wonder why nobody credits the Arabs for 'creating' all the silk, since, like knowledge, it also passed through their hands on its way west.

>>"The Koran enjoins the believer and the unbeliever alike to examine nature for signs of the creator's handiwork, evidence of his existence<<

Looking for signs of God's handiwork, does NOT automatically mean to look for SCIENTIFIC explanations. It often means look for ways to use the Koran to to "explain" the world around us, much as "Creation Science" operates. It contributes NOTHING to science, anymore than librarians write the books they catalog and arrange. The difference is, librarians don't try to pass themselves off as creators rather than custodians of knowledge.

Can I have a truck load of this for my garden?

[boojumsnark]

About 1 in 4 Arab adults can neither read nor write. This is a particular problem among Arab women, 50 per cent of whom are illiterate.

Assuming the population is about half female, does this mean that 100% of males are literate?

[arielb]

The problem is, they don't need to dominate science-they are doing a pretty good job dominating the world without becoming an advanced civilization. They have the middle east, much of africa and southern asia. They are making inroads on Europe and already proven they can manipulate the Spanish elections. Secular Europe is very weak and gullible and will be taken over relatively quickly.

[nightdriver]

"That is unfortunate," Cooper said. "Much of our modern science and philosophy owes a large debt to Islamic civilization during the Middle Ages for preserving the classical heritage in all intellectual fields, and for improving upon it in many of these fields. If the average American understood this, there would be fewer smug citizens looking down on 'backward Muslims' with hate and fear."

If moslems would throw away their "scriptures" enjoining them to murder all non-moslems, it would do quite a bit to keep "citizens (from) looking down on 'backward Muslims' with hate and fear," also.

[Imal]

Neat article. Thanks for posting it.

[bondjamesbond]

Islam dominated science and medicine during the Dark Ages.

Why do you think they called it "the Dark Ages"?

Lawrence sits on the highest hill in Eastern Kansas, but it's not very high off the plain.

Everything is reletive.

As soon as Europe broke free from feudal religious oppression (and not coincidentally, turned back the Islamic horde), it moved forward. Islam has not.

[NathanR]

From 800 AD to 1500, Arabic was the language of science, as English is today. Muslims occupied Spain, and Europeans flocked to Toledo and other Spanish cities, or traveled great distances to Baghdad or Damascus, to translate Islamic science and medical books into Latin.

The year 1500 is indicative, because 1453 or so was when Constinople fell. By 1500 most of the greek scientists would have been dead. (or fled to Italy.)

[Ohioan]

Any article on the decline of science in the Moslem World, which ignores the genocidal policies of the Mongols, who swept through much of the Asiatic population centers, is naive in the extreme. The population of Iraq, today, for example, simply cannot be compared to the population of the region before 1400.

This certainly does not mean that the people cannot better themselves. But it certainly rules out their achieving the sort of culture--not that they seem to want it--to which Americans have become accustomed. (Of course, every people's culture reflects the people who created it.)

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site