Absolutely that has made things worse, but religious fundamentalism hasn’t helped either.
We had that too in Europe, but while Europe progressed the Arab countries seemed to stagnate, and even double down on it.
But I’m not a historian, there may be other reasons, I’m just not aware what they might be?
The torch of science and learning was passed from the Roman Empire to the Byzantine, and then the Muslim caliphates (principally the Abbasid Caliphate). Europe saw its resurgence beginning in the 15th century as the Islamic world declined following the reconquest of Spain. What followed was colonialism which slowly and systematically dismantled existing power structures in most of the world outside of Europe, culminating, perhaps, in WWI with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the last center of the once great Islamic culture. Around the beginning of the 20th century at the peak of European empire, Middle Eastern oil reserves were discovered, cementing the fate of the region as the center of global struggles over energy dominance in which the Islamic powers were not equipped to compete, having already been colonized or weakened in conflicts with European powers.
Religion is a well of hope for otherwise hopeless people. It is no surprise that colonized peoples turn to it en masse.
The Petrochemical War of 1152 was quite the doozy.
The academic decline of (some portions of) the Middle East happened well before the practical use of petrochemicals or the founding or even discovery of America. The US could take this as a cautionary tale of the dangers of anti-intellectualism, but instead they will couch this as a moral failing of a race or religion.
Yeah, petrochemical wars.
Absolutely that has made things worse, but religious fundamentalism hasn’t helped either.
We had that too in Europe, but while Europe progressed the Arab countries seemed to stagnate, and even double down on it.
But I’m not a historian, there may be other reasons, I’m just not aware what they might be?
The torch of science and learning was passed from the Roman Empire to the Byzantine, and then the Muslim caliphates (principally the Abbasid Caliphate). Europe saw its resurgence beginning in the 15th century as the Islamic world declined following the reconquest of Spain. What followed was colonialism which slowly and systematically dismantled existing power structures in most of the world outside of Europe, culminating, perhaps, in WWI with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the last center of the once great Islamic culture. Around the beginning of the 20th century at the peak of European empire, Middle Eastern oil reserves were discovered, cementing the fate of the region as the center of global struggles over energy dominance in which the Islamic powers were not equipped to compete, having already been colonized or weakened in conflicts with European powers.
Religion is a well of hope for otherwise hopeless people. It is no surprise that colonized peoples turn to it en masse.
Religion is a well of false hope that leads nowhere.
The Petrochemical War of 1152 was quite the doozy.
The academic decline of (some portions of) the Middle East happened well before the practical use of petrochemicals or the founding or even discovery of America. The US could take this as a cautionary tale of the dangers of anti-intellectualism, but instead they will couch this as a moral failing of a race or religion.