Many scientific discoveries took place during this time because Muslim scientists already had knowledge of science and mathematics from India, Greece and other countries.
Islamic civilization was thus essentially a great fusion of world cultures, with Greek philosophy, Semitic lunar systems, Indian mathematics, Persian wisdom and even Chinese paper and gunpowder coming together and being exchanged. Islam was not the essence of this civilization, but it was certainly the seed and catalyst. Islamic civilization owes much to the wisdom of the ancient Greeks.
Many of the great physicians, philosophers, viziers and scientists of the Islamic Golden Age were Jewish or Byzantine. A fact that is conveniently omitted when it suits Muslims.
The Islamic empire during its “golden age” was the result of constant invasions of other empires, taking their libraries. It took knowledge from non-Muslim countries and centralized it in one place. The vast majority of knowledge in Baghdad was gained by simply translating books from fallen empires, which were then expanded upon.
Constant invasions and expansions, as you pointed out with the example of Baghdad. Another good example is the Ottoman Empire.
Much of the progress during the Islamic Golden Age in every field was due to the contributions of 1) the Byzantines and 2) the Jews.
The problem is that this golden age ended. And for good reason. And these Byzantine and Jewish scientists were heretics and blasphemers who ignored the Quran in their scientific work and were threatened with death if they did not follow the line of accepting what was in the Quran. So they gave up completely.
Here is a perfect example of the problem with the Golden Age of Islam:
Do you think Charles Darwin came up with the idea of natural selection? No, it was a series of Muslims during the Golden Age of Islam. A thousand years before Darwin, Islamic scholars were writing about natural selection.
Any scientist in an Islamic country today who advocated natural selection and claimed that humans evolved from primates would have a mob at their doorstep, dragged them out into the street and beat them to death. But this is the kind of scientific discovery that was made in this Golden Age.
When you realize this. You realize that these scientists during the Golden Age were clearly Muslims in name only. Any Muslim will say: if you believe in scientific theories that contradict the Quran, you are not a Muslim. And natural selection goes directly against the core teachings of the Quran.
So really, this Golden Age of Islam should be called the Golden Age of the Arabs. And that is the problem. Muslims talk about a Golden Age of Islam. But the Arabs do not want that Golden Age back. They would kill anyone who tried. At best, you would get a life sentence in an Islamic country for blasphemy…
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The fall of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Empire caused the Byzantines to flee to the West. Byzantine refugees who educated Europe were one of the major factors that brought about the Renaissance.
It’s crazy when you think about it: without the harsh and brutal suppression of Islam, important Greek thinkers would never have gone West and there might never have been a Renaissance or development of the scientific method.
Many of the scientific achievements of the Islamic Golden Age came from the Mu’tazila. They believed in rationalism, free will, and a metaphorical interpretation of the Qur’an. Many scientists and scholars emerged from this movement, and scholars from far-flung places of various religions came to Baghdad during the height of the movement.
In the 11th century, political stability in Baghdad collapsed. The Abbasid Empire struggled with the Byzantine Empire and the Fatimid Empire. People found more comfort in the Asherite philosophy, which emphasized predestination and a literal interpretation of the Qur’an. This was probably because it was easier to deal with difficult times by saying, “It’s all part of God’s plan.” The Abbasid caliph Al-Qadir then officially denounced the Mu’tazila in favor of the Asherite and changed the public school curriculum to Asherite philosophy, which strengthened the Asherite’s influence.
This allowed the Seljuq Empire to take advantage of the power vacuum to take over Baghdad. The Crusades began shortly thereafter.
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To be clear, what we call the Islamic Golden Age is not Islamic, but rather a