[ohioWfan]

There were brilliant medieval Islamic philosophers who rivaled those in Europe, and Baghdad was their base.

This isn't surprising at all.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

A lot of freepers here don't seem willing to recognize that Muslims did contribute to science.

[aruanan]

There were brilliant medieval Islamic philosophers who rivaled those in Europe, and Baghdad was their base.

Again, the civilization in Baghdad antedated Islam by well over a thousand years. It was a center of intellectual excellence before Muhammad ever cobbled together his religion. The Jews were living in Baghdad and were part of that excellence. For that matter, the Jews and Christians were the high tech cultures of the Arabian peninsula for centuries before Muhammad was born. Islam didn't bring anything to that region, it merely took it over, including pre-existing scholastics.