science

Submitted by jon (United Arab Emirates), Jun 25, 2009 at 13:26

Muslims were the last people to become educated. Before Muslim science was Greek before that Chinese and before that Indian. Translation of Sanskrit and Greek texts, Sanskrit in particular into Persian and Arabic was what contributed to an Islamic upswing.And that too only a few educated and rational Muslims. Islam may have mentioned Atom 1100 yrs ago but so did greeks 2500 yrs ago and Indians 3000 then 2600 yrs ago. Atoms and molecules. If Muslims have the longest recorded history of science why are they the worst off now? Common sense tells you the present Muslim situation is linked with a poor scientific backgroound.

Remember that when the Koran was revealed 1400 yrs ago the people there were illiterate. The Koran was written and recorded in Arabic only in the 10th century. By that time The Arabs and Muslims had occupied all lands from Spain to India. All these countries were more advanced and civilised than the territories of the harsh Arabian peninsula. So this became a parasitic relationship as science was already familiar to Muslims by the time the Koran was written. One more thing I would like to add: there is no such thing as religious science for eg. Muslim, Christian, etc. Knowledge develops in a place ad may be complemented or influenced by religion. Traditionally science has been against religion, unless science itself is the religion. I would say Islam and logic are not compatible. Science and rationality go hand in hand and Muslims are suffering today as are countries with significant Muslim populations.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".