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Old 11-22-2011, 12:07   #1
Richard
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Why the Arabic World Turned Away from Science

An interesting read.

In trying to explain the Islamic world’s intellectual laggardness, it is tempting to point to the obvious factors: authoritarianism, bad education, and underfunding (Muslim states spend significantly less than developed states on research and development as a percentage of GDP). But these reasons are all broad and somewhat crude, and raise more questions than answers. At a deeper level, Islam lags because it failed to offer a way to institutionalize free inquiry. That, in turn, is attributable to its failure to reconcile faith and reason. In this respect, Islamic societies have fared worse not just than the West but also than many societies of Asia. With a couple of exceptions, every country in the Middle Eastern parts of the Muslim world has been ruled by an autocrat, a radical Islamic sect, or a tribal chieftain. Islam has no tradition of separating politics and religion.

Why the Arabic World Turned Away from Science
TheNewAtlantis, Winter 2011

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/public...y-from-science

And so it goes...

Richard
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Old 11-22-2011, 12:53   #2
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Very interesting. Thanks Richard!
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Old 11-22-2011, 16:28   #3
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Fascinating read, thanks QP Richard!

One thing to note, towards the end, the author states that Maimonides was an influential philosopher during the Golden Age. Outside the realm of medicine, one has to wonder about that, considering that Maimonides was Jewish; I find it hard to believe that his philosophical thoughts and ideas had that much of an impact on Islam at the time. Thoughts...
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Old 11-22-2011, 17:14   #4
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"Islam has no tradition of separating politics and religion"

Islam has a prohibition of seperating the two let alone a 'tradition'.
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Old 11-22-2011, 21:00   #5
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Allah is perfect. If society needs something, Allah will provide it...
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Old 11-22-2011, 21:44   #6
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Great Article, Thanks Richard
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