Of course, the "victimization" crowd within Islam blame the Crusades, western colonialism, and the Jews for every failure within their own societies.
Led the world in medicine? - How to sleep with camels and not get camel VD!
Led the world in art? - Camel dung art, perhaps!
I'd have to say only one thing.
They were the librarians for the West during the Dark Ages.
Thats it!
invented algebra?...damn them Arabs!...I for one can't think of a better reason for bombing them!!!
The achievements of Islamic civilization are all on the far corners of the Islamic world, products either of non-Arab peoples long ago(the mosques of Sinan in Turkey; the poetry and painting of Persia; the Taj Mahal in India) or in synthesis with other peoples (as with the Muslim/Christian/Jewish culture of Moorish Spain).
"Arabic numbers" are of Hindu origin.
Mark
Abd al-Malik ibn al-Quraib al-Asmai – left writings that contributed to the development of what we now know as Zoology, Botany and Animal Husbandry
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi - recognized as the founder of Algebra, as he not only initiated the subject in a systematic form but also developed it to the extent of giving analytical solutions of linear and quadratic equations. The name Algebra is derived from his famous book Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah. He developed in detail trigonometric tables containing the sine functions, which were later extrapolated to tangent functions. Al-Khwarizmi also developed the calculus of two errors, which led him to the concept of differentiation. He also refined the geometric representation of conic sections
Yaqub idn Ishaq Al-Kindi - the first physician who systematically determined the dosage for most drugs. It greatly helped in the development of dosage standards (prescription) for patients.
Thabit ibn Qurrah – pioneered extending the concept of traditional geometry to geometrical algebra and proposed theories that led to the development of non-Euclidean geometry, spherical trigonometry, integral calculus and real numbers. He used arithmetic terminology to study several aspects of conic sections (parabola and ellipse). His algorithm for computing the surface area and volume of solids is in fact what we came to know later as the integral calculus.
Ali ibn Rabban Al-Tabari – wrote the first known medical encycopedia and reference work.
Abu Abdullah Al-Battani - made several emendations to Ptolemy and rectified the calculations for the orbits of the moon and certain planets. He proved the possibility of annular eclipses of the sun and determined with greater accuracy the obliquity of the seasons and the true and mean orbit of the ecliptic, the length of the tropical year and the seasons and the true and mean orbit of the sun." His remarkably accurate calculation of the solar year as 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds is very close to the latest estimates. He found that the longitude of the Sun's apogee had increased by 16o 47' since Ptolemy. It inferred the important discovery of the motion of solar apsides and of a slow variation in the equation of time.
Abu Bakr Muhammed bin Zakariya Ar-Razi – physician who pioneered opthamology. He first described the operation for the removal of cataract and also the first scientist to discuss the pupillary reaction or the widening and narrowing of the pupil of the eye and what caused it.
Abd al-Rahman Al-Sufi – astronomer who charted the heavens and was the first to describe a nebula. His book is still an important reference on the study of proper motions and long period variables.
Abul Qasim Al-Zahravi a surgeon. He invented instruments for internal examination of the ear, internal inspection of the urethra and for applying or removing foreign bodies from the throat. He introduced such new procedures as cauterization of wounds, crushing stones inside the bladder, the vivisection and dissection. He applied cauterization procedure to as many as 50 different operations. In addition, Al-Zahravi discussed the preparation of medicines and the application of such techniques as sublimation and decantation. He prescribed the use of diuretics, sudorifics, purgatives, the absorption of pure wine and hot baths. Al-Zahravi was the first to give detailed description hemophilia and was the first to use silk thread for stitching wounds. He is also considered one of the fathers of Oral Surgery for his work on the problem of non-aligned or deformed teeth and procedures to rectify these defects. In addition, he developed the procedure for preparing and setting artificial teeth made from animal bones.
Abu Ali Hasan ibn Al-Haitham – the father of modern optics. He conducted experiments on the propagation of light and colors, optic illusions and reflections. He examined the refraction of light rays through transparent medium (air, water) and discovered the laws of refraction. He also carried out the first experiments on the dispersion of light into its constituent colors. In detailing his experiment with spherical segments (glass vessels filled with water), he came very close to discovering the theory of magnifying lenses which was developed in Italy three centuries later. It took another three centuries before the law of sines was proposed by Snell and Descartes.
Abu Raihan Muhammad Al-Birundi - discovered seven different ways of finding the direction of the north and south, and discovered mathematical techniques to determine exactly the beginnings of the season. He also wrote about the sun and its movements and the eclipse. In addition, he invented few astronomical instruments. Many centuries before the rest of the world, Al-Biruni discussed that the earth rotated on its axis and made accurate calculations of latitude and longitude.
Abu Marwan Abd Al-Malik Ibn Zuhr – a physician who made several breakthroughs. He was the first to test different medicines on animals before administering them to humans. Also, he was the first to describe in detail scabies, the itch mite, and is thus regarded as the first parasitologist. He was also the first to give a full description of the operation of tracheotomy and practiced direct feeding through the gullet in those cases where normal feeding was not possible. As a clinician, he provided clinical descriptions of intestinal phthisis, inflammation of the middle ear, peri carditis, and mediastinal tumors among others.
Ibn Al-Nafis Damishqui – a physician who is credited with the discovery of the blood's circulatory system, and was the first to describe the constitution of lungs, Bronchi, and the coronary arteries.
What will you conclude from what they did contribute and what will you conclude from what they did not contribute?
Does the culture, nation, or religion contributing more receive a proportionally greater consideration for the actions of the extreme among them than the culture, nation, or religion that contributed less? I don’t know. I’m just asking.