What, Exactly, are the Great Achievements of the Islamic World?

moi

[ml/nj]

Today in the WSJ, Karen Elliot House reviews a new book from Bernard Lewis entitled What Went Wrong. She begins this way:

How has it come to pass that a civilization that for centuries led the world in science, medicine, and the arts ...

Does anyone know what contribution the Islamic world made to science besides giving us our number system (admittedly a biggie) and naming a bunch of stars (less big)? Algebra may have Arabic roots linguistically, but I cannot think of a single concept or theorem that we credit to the Arabs. The Greeks are all over geometry. The Arabs supposedly preserved this and passed it along, but did they contribute? I don't know. I'm asking.

Ditto for medicine. What did they do? (Stop the bleeding when they chopped off someones hand?)

And if House just said "Art," maybe, but Arts? The Islamic architecture should certainly be considered "leading," but is there any philosophy or literature that anyone pays attention to along the lines of Maimonades or Aquinas?

ML/NJ

[Calvin Locke]

Are you saying that there's a Pythagorean Triangle in the Med?

[RightOnline]

The Islamic World is the Barbara Streisand of the modern world.

"I used to be somebody............now I'm just annoying and a pain in the ass to all around me."

[boltfromblue]

As a former student of classical history, I felt in part as you do. But if we were to retake all, the world would be in even more turmoil. The Aztecs, the Olmecs, the Toltecs would tear down Christian sites. The pagans would also overturn Christian sites, in the Mid-East, as many built on the sites of older spiritual sites, the Jews plan to happily tear down the Al Asqa? mosque to rebuild the temple, and where does this end? with out historical records. Maybe we all need to become spiritual rather than material

[Publius6961]

You made a serious mistake not qualifying your question as to time frame.
In the last 700 years their only contribution has been the concept of killing your brothers, sons, uncles and cousins upon the death of your father the Caliph, lest they challenge your right to rule and to the harem.

In all fairness, 1200 years ago they did collect and preserve all of the useful knowledge of the known world, which later was passed on to the West. Their contributions of original concepts, however, was nil.

Sometime around the 15th century, aliens from another planet took away all the original muslims and replaced them with genetically engineered pigs.
So for the last 700 years their positive contribution in any useful field is pretty much zero.

[boltfromblue]

Actually, what every one is sitting on now, no doubt, is a derivative of Mid-East ingenuity, for every method of joining was invented by one of these countries, unless no joints are on your chair, as in some modern furniture.

[Publius6961]

Without context and a time element all of the achievements listed are meaningless.
The result of this sloppy reporting is that it is impossible to place the "achievements" in the proper historical timeline.
Plus it is toatally relevant to divide the achievemts into pre and post-Islam.

What is the source of all these assertions?

[boltfromblue]

Yea, the arches were from Greece, the flying buttresses were derivative in those cathedrals.

[Abn1508]

Actually, the Arabs passed that on from the Indians.

Advances. Algebra (Al-Gebra), early theory of medicine and sanitation, dissemination of the use of suturing (don't recall if it was original to them or not), changes in arch style that led to the flying buttress, improved steels, preservation of the works of the early philosophers, dissemination of "Arabic" numbering, advances in geometry and number theory, advances in stellar navigation, advances in ship and sail design...

One of the things about Islam is that it calls for a pilgrimage to Mecca to be made at least once in each person's life. And the Koran calls for learning as an absolute positive. The combination, up until the 14th-16th century or so, meant that Islam was a _major_ positive force for learning and change. Scholars were treated the way that we treat rock stars and travelled throughout the Dar Al Islam with impugnity. Groups would be gathered by Kaliphs and think and expound and develop and invent. In its heyday, Islam was a center of learning and culture. However, right at its peak there was a philosophical split between the followers of Averroes, who believed that the Koran could only be truly understood by the literate, and for all others it had to be interpreted, and the Fundamentalists who believed that each statement had to be obeyed in a Fundamental way.

Guess who won?

[boltfromblue]

Get yourself a broader education. Cathedral architecture originates from the Greek. The stained glass apertures originate in the Mid-East. Every bit of furniture in your home owes its origin to the forefathers of Arafat. Why not sit down on the floor and thank him?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

They named the stars.......

[Non-Sequitur]

All those mentioned were post Islam and did their work between the 740 and 1449. Happy?

[ml/nj]

Scholars were treated the way that we treat rock stars

What's this we stuff? ....

Here at FR most are treated with derision. Does anyone care what any "rock star" has to say about anything?

Scholars are routinely quoted here to support one point or another.

And as for the way Muslims regarded scholars, I asked sometime back if anyone knew the Mulsim equivalent to Maimonades or Aquinas. I don't think I got an answer. I think the bottom line is that the Muslim World has little use for anyone whose learning extends beyond the boundaries of the Koran and the Hadiths. That is not "respect for scholars" in my book.

ML/NJ

[boltfromblue]

Emotionally-based offhand comments do not suffice for anything. In fact, thay are lies. You do not know evidently anything about this subject, in which I have taken the time to acquire an education in college studies. For the edification of others, you would not have any joinery, mortise and tenon joints, on back to all simpler joints. Some quotes, to alleviate your continued ignorance likely based in racial bias: Egyptian cabinrtmakers and woodworkers developed a high degree of technical ability. The Egyptian craftsman thoroughly understood his material. Knowing that wood would warp, twist, split, and shrink, he treated his design and construction so as to render these defects as neglible as possible.

[duckln]

Islam's Golden Age may have been a LONG time ago, but it was a true golden age with MANY, MANY accomplishments.

But the way they describe it, it was from the 700's well into 1800's. Pretty much includes the dark ages, you might say they caused it.

How much is "many,many" ? I know a 'couple' is 2, a 'few' is more than 2, and 'many' is maybe 10, "many, many" may then be 20. I have yet to hear of a 'few' accomplishments for a culture that sat on time for 1400 years and still going down hill.

[Restorer]

Thank you for your intelligent reply. I will have to ponder your comments and respond when I have more time to address the issues you bring up.