In millenia past, the arabians were the repositories of most the world's body of knowlege. They are brilliant people, but unfortunately their current political/religious climate doesn't provide enough stability to encourage much scientific & artistic contribution to the modern world.
I was just wondering about this and am glad to see the above list.
I don't know if they were repositories of most of the world's wisdom, I think they did conquer former Byzantine lands where much of the ancient manuscripts were stored.
Not sure of this.