Posted on 12/06/2004 10:19:30 AM PST by quidnunc
The Islamic nations of the world have a population of nearly 1.5 billion, or about one-quarter of the human population of Earth. Yet the gross national product of these nations totals less than half the GNP of Germany.
Poverty is endemic in the Muslim world, despite the fact that most of the world's petroleum deposits and a quarter of our planet's other natural resources lie within these Muslim lands.
The science minister of Pakistan, Atta-ur-Raman, and science adviser Anwar Nasim point out in a recent issue of the British journal Nature that Muslim nations spend only 0.2 percent of their GNP on scientific research, while spending up to seven percent of GNP on their military. They argue that if the nations of Islam put more funding into science, they could create significant economic growth.
Islam once led the world in science.
While Europe wallowed in the poverty and ignorance of the dark ages after the fall of the Roman Empire, the lands of Islam preserved much of the classic learning that was lost in Europe.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at naplesnews.com ...
They now revel in bloodthirsty ignorance..
From what I understand, Muslims conquered advanced civilizations and absorbed them, giving themselves the appearance of being scientifically adept. However, their religion is so stagnant and unproductive that they achieved little themselves and were easily overtaken by Northern Europe a few centuries later.
Gotta give them credit for the preservation of the work of previous civilizations, but that's where the credit ends.
They did more than preserve. But did they lead Europe or China in science and technology?
At least up until the Muslims got around to slaughtering the last of the Jewish, Christian, and Hindu doctors and scientists.
What, Exactly, are the Great Achievements of the Islamic World?ML/NJ
"Islam once led the world in science."
When was 'once', what world was led, and what science? I apparently have missed a major chapter of the history of mankind.
And what sort of numbers do you use for balancing your checkbook?
(Hint: They're not called Roman numerals.)
I don't think the Arab people have made a single advancement since the birth of islam.
Coincidence?
Absolutely. The zero and algebra came from Hindus and knowledge of medicine came from Jews. A lot of what we know about ancient Greek literature was transmitted through Arabic.
Its a lot like the Yakima Indians whose reservation is close to where I live. They determined some time ago that the spelling should be (Yakama). This is in spite of the fact they didn't even have a written language.
Back to the Islamics, they did have philosophers, but killed them when their thinking began to threaten "Islam".
(Bonus Hint: they shouldn't be called Arabic numerals, either -- they were first used in India)
Yes, the Islamic civilization once led the world in science...... about eight hundred years ago! But, the religion has become a barrier to any kind of modernization: political, cultural, and technological. Instead, they have directed their energies towards more and more killing, and blaming outsiders - the Israelis and the Great Satan mainly - for all of their ills. Sound familiar? The parallels between Islamic Fundamentalism and National Socialism are as plain as day.
The MidEast was once the center of the world for commerce and the exchange of ideas that accompany it. The United States of America now occupies that space in the world, fueling resentment toward us. This resentment is misplaced, as it should be directed inward.
The first factor was important because the basic premise of Judaeo-Christian philosophy was such a novelty back then: the notion that the world does not function in repeated cycles of days, seasons, phases of the moon etc. (as every other culture in existence viewed the world). For the first time, a culture took root that was entirely predicated on the basic idea that the world had a beginning and will have an end. The result of this mindset is that people began to believe that tomorrow didn't have to be the same as today, and next year didn't have to be the same as this year.
This mindset pervaded just about every avenue of life in the West . . . The farmer who planted 40 acres of corn one year might try to plant 45 the next; the shipbuilder who could build three ships a year might try to build four; the king whose nation endured a devastating plague every few decades started to think that perhaps a cure could be found before the next one. This is precisely why most of the world's great explorers were Westerners . . . Whereas the wise Chinese scholar might gaze across the ocean and marvel at the waves and the distant horizon, it never occurred to him that he might want to see what was out there; the Westerner, on the other hand, looked at the horizon and wondered what was beyond it.
The second factor (the invasion of Europe by the Moors) was critical because they left the one priceless influence that the West did not have: a numbering system that was conducive to mathematical operations and scientific research. The Roman system of numbers was primarily used for counting and/or identification, but was utterly useless when it came to computations such as multiplication and division. We take simple math for granted today, but before the Moors brought the Persian numbering system to Europe the West didn't have a basic understanding of such things as negative numbers or even a quantity called "zero."
Semper Disgusted
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