Next question.
Posted on 08/29/2004 5:34:29 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
An American reader, Gordon Reade, sent me the following question, which is no doubt on the minds of many:
“In America our history books say that while Europe was mired in the dark ages, the Arabs led the world in art, education, science, math, philosophy, military power and you name it. According to our books, a thousand years ago the Arabs were every bit as powerful as America is today.
But what our books don’t tell us is what went wrong. The Arabs of today would be virtually unrecognizable to the Arabs of the past. Clearly you guys suffered some tremendous catastrophe long before 1967 and long before 1948. What went wrong and when did it happen? Do the Arabs have a name for it?”
I answered him: True, we ruled and enlightened the world for some thousand years, reaching China, India, Central Asia, Africa, Spain and northern Europe.
Our contributions to science and culture were immeasurable. They included the invention of the zero, algebra and the astrolabe and the discovery of blood circulation.
We translated Greek, Indian and Persian literary treasures and added our own. Then, we fought each other and the Ottoman Turks took over the Islamic Caliphate and united its disintegrated empire. While the Turks are not Arabs, they are Muslims.
At the time, they used Arabic alphabet and ruled our world in the name of the Prophet (peace be upon him) as his successors “Caliphs”.
The Ottomans were once the most powerful nation on earth. They ruled supreme for many centuries. At the end of 19th century, they began to decline. Their mistake was the one oft repeated by many empires.
They felt so invincible that they had no need to consult with anyone regarding anything they did in the world, no matter how vital or colossal. Arrogance and mistreatment of subject people led to revolts, including some in Arab countries. Still, their rule continued until World War I when they and their allies, the Germans, were defeated.
The Western victors then took over and colonized the Arab world, lasting up to the late sixties. They left behind dictatorial regimes; most still rule today with Western support. America, alone, installed some of the most horrible regimes and leaders like Saddam Hussein and others.
Today, the Arabs suffer from a decline on all fronts. Politically, most of us are prisoners to emergency and revolutionary rules.
Economically, altogether we produce every year less than Spain. Culturally, we print fewer than one percent of the books in the world. We have questionable levels of poverty, quality of education and unemployment rates. That says it all.
They smell
The Zero was invented in India... nice try Arabs...
... although, to be perfectly fair: said volumes DO all come with complimentary crayons. :)
It's all someone else's fault.
Actually, Arabs suffer from the lack of forward motion. They have been moving backward culturally for the last 200 years.
smatterofact, the Islamiccs seem to be like Borg (maybe they were the idea behind the sci-fi characters) -- they assimilated different cultures and tore them apart, destroying them
Do I dare say the "I" word?
Hmmm. I thought the Mayans invented the concept of Zero.
Oh, I forgot, they must also all be DeMARXocrats because they are excellent liars.
Pure BS. America did not install Hussein. He was an ally in the 80s, but we didn't install him.
The United States did NOT install Saddam Hussein in power. He was Bakr's vice-President for many years. Saddam actually ran the country, Bakr was the upfront man. Through intimidation Saddam finally forced Bakr to resign and Saddam became President in name only, he ruled as a dictator. Any more lies and distortions in this?
Both the Mayans and the Indians (India Indians) independently invented the concept of zero. But the Arabs definitely got it from the Indians.
Independently it was invented in India and by the Mayans. The only think the Arabs invented was "ground zero".
Whether or not the astrolabe was an Arab invention they perfected it. For the purpose of finding the direction to Mecca from any point in the Arab world.
What is wrong with Arabs? Islam, a religion that teaches death and violence as life's work and a central method of proselytization.
PING!
Used to measure his charisman and charm.
They do not think!
Its Sunday night for me...my bad.
Dare! Dare!
UUhhh..... No. They weren't.
See my just posted: "U.S. Says Syria Playing 'Dangerous Game " ....
The zero and the numbering system that became the basis for their mathematics and subsequently ours is attributed to India. The base 10 number system also came from there, but evidence points that the base 10 system could be traced to China.
From Wikipedia:
The Arabic numeral system is considered one of the most significant developments in mathematics. Most historians agree that it was first conceived of in India (particularly as Arabs themselves call the numerals they use “Indian numerals”, ????? ?????, arqam hindiyyah), and was then transmitted to the Islamic world and thence, via North Africa and Spain, to Europe.
Then they were taken over by fanatics or democrats.
Most of the great knowledge preservation of the arabs was by the Christians and Jews who they took on as their viziers and doctors and teachers. The actual moslem names among the Arab and Turkish knowlege preservers were almost all converted Christians and Jews ans their immediate offspring.
No, he invented the algore-rithm. It's a formula to determine that he can't dance.
What went wrong is called OIL, and too much of it. If you get something handed to you from birth (like lots of unearned money) it is quite likely you will not be a very productive adult. Places like Saudi Arabia were giving it away to their Arab citizens for years and now that they can't afford it anymore, those unproductive citizens are pissed off and looking for someone to blame. They are a lot like Democrats and are blaming the United States.
Correctimundo. If they keep on their present course the joke about why there are no Arabs in the original Star Trek episodes will become reality.
And the subsequent USSR or Russian colossus whould have presented the West a much deadlier and much much more dangerous enemy in the 20th century.
You just don't get it. In the Arab world every catastrophe is the fault of the US. It's ALWAYS a backroom conspiracy. You want to know who flew the planes into the World Trade Center? The CIA, in order to get Americans pissed off enough to attack the Middle East.
It all boils down to their belief system.
I would not suggest America and Iraq were allies in the 80's. Thanks to the foreign relations ineptness of the Carter administration Iran ousted the Shah and was involved in revolution, uncertainty and unrest. Iraq on their own attacked the Iranian oil fields when they suspected Iranian military weakness. They suspected wrong. The Reagan Administration had a choice, arm Iraq to ensure a stalemate or allow an Iranian victory which would have made Iran, America's great enemy vastly more powerful and would have put them at the door of the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. Carter must always be mentioned when one speaks of America arming Iraq in the 80's.
The astrolabe was a Greek invention and was based upon the works of Apollonius (ca. 225 BC), Hipparchus (ca. 180 BC), and Ptolemy (ca. AD 150) and was not introduced to the Islamic world until the eighth and ninth centuries through translations of Greek texts.
Yep --- Islam is what is wrong with them. Just like Islam is what is wrong with the Iranians. If the Arabs were Christian, they would have a good culture and fit in with the rest of the world.
Thanks.
When one worships Satan, one gets a hellish existence...
I also think Mayan or Indian invented the numberical ZERO to represent nothingness or null. Arab ONLY use the "0" or the circle to represent ZERO.
I think Arab culture contribute many things to the world but not this. Nice try.
I was taught that the Arabs developed (refined) the number system, preserving what information of the past that was not destroyed in the library of Alexandria fire. Whether they invented or simply saw the usefulness of the number zero it is sufficient that they had it. And in fact we all use the "arabic numeral system". They had the math and history of the ages, and did nothing with it. They preserved it through the dark ages and passed it on to the West. Then the West used it and started the cultural ages that followed. The Arabs never overcame the tribal culture that they still follow today.
In many ways this is like the American Indian who lived for centuries in a tribal lifestyle that is sometimes idealized by the left, but it too did not develop beyond a certain point. I believe it is sufficient to say that some cultures develop, and some don't. To blame it on arrogance is a little like the claim that the US is an arrogant country, and says little about the people working daily to find new discoveries and defend their way of life.
Too late, the Arabs are trying to defend their way of life, but it is not the way of culture and development that they seek to defend, it is the tribal lifestyle that lost the American Indians the continent in our recent past.
".....and the discovery of blood circulation."
I wonder how many heads had to roll before they discovered this.......
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