Muddying the waters a bit.
Middle ages did just fine with science considering the knowledge base at the time..
Current Islam is a case apart...They are a death cult that has virtually nothing to do with the discussion at hand.
A classic example of Serendipity is afforded by the tale of the "Archimedes Palimpsest". It also discloses the tragic disregard for non-Christian things evinced by those who should have been their curators.
"A parchment shortage is to blame for the overwriting. The original text apparently sat in a library in Constantinople until 1229 A.D. Then a scribe erased it; he needed someplace to write a prayer book. Seven hundred years later, Archimedes expert John Ludwig Heiberg discovered the traces of Archimedes after reading a few lines transcribed by a scholar in 1899. Over the next few decades, the book had a mysterious life, disappearing and reappearing. Eventually, it was sold at auction."