3 ms·

The Arabic countries led by Muslims were the most advanced scientists/engineers in the world until they let religious bigots/radicals take over. Just saying Mod

by known 9y ago

The Arabic countries led by Muslims were the most advanced scientists/engineers in the world until they let religious bigots/radicals take over. Just saying Modi/RSS/BJP... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_science_and_engineering_in_the_Islamic_world https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_science_and_engi...

seagullz 9y ago
The Wikipedia page doesn't seem to support the thesis. One can plausibly argue for quite the contrary, IMHO. In fact, many outstanding scholars in STEM of that era, including a few names in the cited Wikipedia page, were also religious scholars (jurisprudence, theology, hadith etc.). Arabs were so much lost before the advent of Islam that the neighboring Persians and Romans apparently had little to no interest in them. History is more complicated/nuanced of course, but these are important points.
- Brakenshire 9y ago
  Early Islamic philosophy was positive towards scientific principles, later Islamic philosophy actively hostile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incoherence_of_the_Philosophers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incoherence_of_the_Philoso...
  - seagullz 9y ago
    Agreed mostly. But again the picture is more complicated than what a single sentence or two can convey. Curiously, many of the lethargy, idleness and sense of pointlessness came through sufism. Sufism itself has also many roots (including Greek, and later Andalusian twists), and has a wide spectrum. Ghazzali (the author of The Incoherence) himself was heavily affected by Sufi themes before he wrote 'the Incoherence'; but that book, a rationalist attack on some form of rationalism itself, has many valid points though.
newyankee 9y ago
While i agree that Islam has contributed a great deal to science. It is disingenuous to use that as a defense for all things Islam especially contemporary. A classical example is that Arabic numerals were essentially Indian numbers (including zero) that were introduced to the West by Arab traders. If one purely talks about timelines there are many unappreciated parts of Indian history and contributions created locally that predate Islam and Christianity. This is not a contest but just trying to highlight the facts. Some Indians do not like the pride taken in these things but that is a separate issue

by known 9y ago

seagullz 9y ago

The Wikipedia page doesn't seem to support the thesis. One can plausibly argue for quite the contrary, IMHO. In fact, many outstanding scholars in STEM of that era, including a few names in the cited Wikipedia page, were also religious scholars (jurisprudence, theology, hadith etc.). Arabs were so much lost before the advent of Islam that the neighboring Persians and Romans apparently had little to no interest in them. History is more complicated/nuanced of course, but these are important points.

Brakenshire 9y ago
Early Islamic philosophy was positive towards scientific principles, later Islamic philosophy actively hostile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incoherence_of_the_Philosophers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incoherence_of_the_Philoso...
- seagullz 9y ago
  Agreed mostly. But again the picture is more complicated than what a single sentence or two can convey. Curiously, many of the lethargy, idleness and sense of pointlessness came through sufism. Sufism itself has also many roots (including Greek, and later Andalusian twists), and has a wide spectrum. Ghazzali (the author of The Incoherence) himself was heavily affected by Sufi themes before he wrote 'the Incoherence'; but that book, a rationalist attack on some form of rationalism itself, has many valid points though.

newyankee 9y ago

While i agree that Islam has contributed a great deal to science. It is disingenuous to use that as a defense for all things Islam especially contemporary. A classical example is that Arabic numerals were essentially Indian numbers (including zero) that were introduced to the West by Arab traders. If one purely talks about timelines there are many unappreciated parts of Indian history and contributions created locally that predate Islam and Christianity. This is not a contest but just trying to highlight the facts. Some Indians do not like the pride taken in these things but that is a separate issue