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The destruction of Baghdad - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baghdad_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baghdad_(1258) - by the Mongols certainly di

by defen 18y ago

The destruction of Baghdad - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baghdad_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baghdad_(1258) - by the Mongols certainly didn't help. That said, how do you respond to the charge that the Islamic Empire was merely borrowing the cultural and scientific achievements of the peoples whom they conquered? This guy, Avicenna, al-Khwārizmī, were all Persian. I can't think of any famous Arab scholars from the period (not an expert though - let me know if there are any). It wasn't _Islam_ that was funding this research and learning, it was the remnants of the Persian empire.

ComputerGuru 18y ago
Islam is a religion - religions don't fund anything :) But I assume you meant the Islamic Empire itself, so in that case: The Mongol invasion was the beginning of the end, to use a cliche. The Islamic Empire was indeed "borrowing" the talents of the people they conquered, but (the majority of) the accomplishments only took place after the conquest by the Islamic empire. More importantly than who did the thinking (it was basically a mixture of different cultures and races, the majority of which were not native Arabs) is the fact that that sort of scientific expeditioning was not discouraged and that the scientists were given as close to free reign as possible. Contrasted with the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church's aversion to scientific discovers (Galileo anyone?) you can see that the Islamic Empire played the role of encouraging godfather quite well. Obviously it's not the government nor the religion that makes brilliant people, rather it just sets the stage for the accomplishments to take place. It's a common misconception that the Islamic Empire == Arabian Empire, since the empire dictated that anyone to enter the folds of Islam would be considered the same "class" of citizen regardless of race or culture (and history can attest to the enactment of these beliefs) - it was the non-muslims that were considered to be second-tier citizens with respect to certain freedoms. Keeping that in mind, Persian or Arab or Kurd doesn't really matter..... But anyway, here are just a couple of famous Arab-Muslim scholars: Ibn al-nafis, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Battuta, Al-Kindi, Ibn Al-Haythan, Averroes/Ibn Rushd, Ibn Yunus, Ibn Al-baitar, al-idrisi, hunnayn bin ishaq, jabbir bin hayyan....... Full list is here, you can click through to see the ethnicity of these scholars: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_scientists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_scientists
sharjeel 18y ago
<i> I can't think of any famous Arab scholars from the period (not an expert though - let me know if there are any) </i> Take a look at the creator of cryptanalyis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Kindi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Kindi He was an arab philosopher, scientist, astrologer, astronomer, cosmologist, chemist, logician, mathematician, musician, physician ...

by defen 18y ago

ComputerGuru 18y ago

Islam is a religion - religions don't fund anything :) But I assume you meant the Islamic Empire itself, so in that case: The Mongol invasion was the beginning of the end, to use a cliche. The Islamic Empire was indeed "borrowing" the talents of the people they conquered, but (the majority of) the accomplishments only took place after the conquest by the Islamic empire. More importantly than who did the thinking (it was basically a mixture of different cultures and races, the majority of which were not native Arabs) is the fact that that sort of scientific expeditioning was not discouraged and that the scientists were given as close to free reign as possible. Contrasted with the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church's aversion to scientific discovers (Galileo anyone?) you can see that the Islamic Empire played the role of encouraging godfather quite well. Obviously it's not the government nor the religion that makes brilliant people, rather it just sets the stage for the accomplishments to take place. It's a common misconception that the Islamic Empire == Arabian Empire, since the empire dictated that anyone to enter the folds of Islam would be considered the same "class" of citizen regardless of race or culture (and history can attest to the enactment of these beliefs) - it was the non-muslims that were considered to be second-tier citizens with respect to certain freedoms. Keeping that in mind, Persian or Arab or Kurd doesn't really matter..... But anyway, here are just a couple of famous Arab-Muslim scholars: Ibn al-nafis, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Battuta, Al-Kindi, Ibn Al-Haythan, Averroes/Ibn Rushd, Ibn Yunus, Ibn Al-baitar, al-idrisi, hunnayn bin ishaq, jabbir bin hayyan....... Full list is here, you can click through to see the ethnicity of these scholars: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_scientists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_scientists

sharjeel 18y ago

<i> I can't think of any famous Arab scholars from the period (not an expert though - let me know if there are any) </i> Take a look at the creator of cryptanalyis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Kindi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Kindi He was an arab philosopher, scientist, astrologer, astronomer, cosmologist, chemist, logician, mathematician, musician, physician ...