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The sudden "thing" that happened was Mongol Invasion[0]. Imagine Germany in 1945 losing the war, only having one major library, and the allies burn it down, de

The sudden "thing" that happened was Mongol Invasion[0]. Imagine Germany in 1945 losing the war, only having one major library, and the allies burn it down, decimate the population to 10% of the prior count[1], and throw the books down to Rhine River "...in such quantities that the river ran black with the ink from the books"[2]. The Mongols just invaded, pillaged and killed in a mind-less fashion. Middle-east was unlucky cause it was just geographically near them. They also wreaked havoc on China, Korea and Russia. Japan was lucky that storm sank their ships (which were forcibly built by conquered Chinese) I have not studied al-Ghazali but I think the good'ol war had the major role in this decline and the current state of the middle east. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Baghdad_(1258) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Baghdad_(1258) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_under_the_Mongol_Empire#cite_note-7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_under_the_Mongol_E... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Wisdom#Destruction_by_the_Mongols https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Wisdom#Destruction_by...

redis_mlc 6y ago
Besides early historical events, there are ongoing issues with Islamic practice. The main goals of Islam are to worship Allah and revere the Prophet Mohammed. Praying 5 times per day plus more on Friday is an extremely inefficient use of time. The devout aspire to spend all their waking time on religious devotion. Since the Koran is thought to be "perfect" to believers, pseudo-science as written in there has stunted adherents since the 7th century. (The West's rapid progress in the science of arms in the 1700s is why the Ottomans, etc. were defeated ultimately. Scimitars don't work against cannons.) In addition, when Islam spreads to another country, it replaces the culture and history of that new region (perhaps with the exception of Indonesia, which still superficially uses original dress and languages despite being 90% Muslim. However, the creeping takeover is inexorable, as seen in TV commercials which have become Islamized in the past 20 years.) So the endgame is a 7th century monoculture "borg" that replaces any national uniqueness of ideas. It's death by a thousand cuts where Islam retards the ummah (global diaspora.) There is no way to improve this because "reform" in Islam means going back to a literal interpretation of the Koran (ie. back to the 7th century.) One of the positive things one can say about Islam is that the nuclear family is prized (for making babies), unlike anti-family Marxist ideology as practised in the West.

redis_mlc 6y ago

Besides early historical events, there are ongoing issues with Islamic practice. The main goals of Islam are to worship Allah and revere the Prophet Mohammed. Praying 5 times per day plus more on Friday is an extremely inefficient use of time. The devout aspire to spend all their waking time on religious devotion. Since the Koran is thought to be "perfect" to believers, pseudo-science as written in there has stunted adherents since the 7th century. (The West's rapid progress in the science of arms in the 1700s is why the Ottomans, etc. were defeated ultimately. Scimitars don't work against cannons.) In addition, when Islam spreads to another country, it replaces the culture and history of that new region (perhaps with the exception of Indonesia, which still superficially uses original dress and languages despite being 90% Muslim. However, the creeping takeover is inexorable, as seen in TV commercials which have become Islamized in the past 20 years.) So the endgame is a 7th century monoculture "borg" that replaces any national uniqueness of ideas. It's death by a thousand cuts where Islam retards the ummah (global diaspora.) There is no way to improve this because "reform" in Islam means going back to a literal interpretation of the Koran (ie. back to the 7th century.) One of the positive things one can say about Islam is that the nuclear family is prized (for making babies), unlike anti-family Marxist ideology as practised in the West.