When confronted with the stark and consistent differences in living standards between Muslim countries and the developed world, Muslims typically respond in one of two ways – to blame the current situation on western (ie American, or historical British) interference, or to invoke the Islamic “golden age.” The key message invoked by the golden age is never stated explicitly, but I will do so here: the backwardness of Muslim countries is not caused by Islam and is merely a reflection of the current geopolitical situation, and this point is demonstrated by a very different history in which Muslim countries were actually more advanced than others, especially Europe. Muslims reinforce this argument by invoking the European dark ages alongside their golden age.

It is my goal here to dismantle this argument, by revealing the reality of the Islamic golden age and placing it in proper historical context. I will do the same for the dark ages following. I intend to demonstrate that Islam has always had a significant negative impact on any society it dominates. The apparent reversal of fortune invoked by the golden age/dark age comparison is actually a reflection of the persistent stagnation of Muslim countries coupled with the rest of the world continuing with “history, as usual” around and despite them. Muslims often cite science as a defining feature of the golden age, and I will also show that the contributions of Muslims to science during the period (and ever since) is meagre and largely overstated.

The main counter-arguments presented here are:

• The Islamic Caliphate (State/Empire) was the largest the world had ever seen;
• The Caliphate covered an area including almost all of the centres of western civilisation until then;
• Despite this, living standards and social development were far lower than they were previously in the west;
• Living standards were lower than those in eastern civilisations at the same time; and
• The Caliphate came close to destroying the social precursors to liberty, democracy and the Industrial Revolution in Europe.

http://www.ozpolitic.com/articles/heavy-legacies-our-past.html#golden

Here are the threads I want you to know about:

Islam stifles basic science

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1362655638

Islam and science

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1215152411

History of Islamic Science

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1337873199

Da Vinci was a muslim...

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1334559824

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Islam

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1461333128

Science in Islamic countries

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1460714356

Naming rights = golden age

Conquer someone then name their discoveries and advances as islamic golden age?

However it couldn't keep up, as islamic practices took their toll on the people, so now we have inbred muslims trapped in the 7th century, raping torturing and killing each other and non muslims (as the higher grades of muslims are required to do).

So now we've seen the islamic cycle: subjugation of innocent people to false golden age to millions of inbred muslims one or two steps above the monkey. 

moses wrote on May 1^st, 2016 at 2:23pm:


Yes the Bible says you will know them by their fruits.