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True enough?

Reader comment on item: Islam in Obama's Cairo Speech

Submitted by Noach Stern (Australia), Jul 2, 2009 at 08:34

[quote: Obama] "As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam. It was Islam—at places like Al-Azhar—that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed."

[quote: Daniel Pipes] True enough, but it's also true that these advances took place about a millennium ago since

Not only that, surely, but also the implication of words like "innovation", "developed", "mastery", "tools", "understanding", "disease .. and how it can be healed" together suggest a greater force in innovation (and correspondingly, a lesser emphasis on borrowing), and a superior pride-of-place for carrying the "the light of learning through so many centuries" and in a foundational role in "paving the way" - than what can be historically confirmed.

The lapse into a mlllennium of non-development was not merely a backsliding, but an expression of a continuous lack of interest in all the foregoing heroic cultural, technological, and scientific "achievements". Absent generally from these "true enough" claims is the role of Byzantium in bridging the early Church, Greece, and Rome with the Renaissance. Islamic culture did not "achieve" the same degree of connection or transmission, notwithstanding the brilliance of the scholar whose name we know through algebra.

So, how is all this "true enough"?

Yours etc

Submitting....

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".

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Reader comments (8) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
you are all wrong about this speech [309 words]JeffMar 16, 2012 20:48194445
1His Muslim Identity [279 words]John in Michigan, USAJul 7, 2009 11:10158567
Obama's Cairo Speech [216 words]Edward ClineJul 6, 2009 19:11158550
Obama's Cairo speech = Obama unmasked. [35 words]M.D.Jul 6, 2009 17:29158545
Master of rapport skills? [123 words]Laura McGaffeyJul 6, 2009 16:18158540
Islamism is the new curse of our Free world...they want complete control..Dan Pipes is right on! [129 words]Sheldon SMar 7, 2010 11:37158540
Islam in Obama's Cairo Speech- The western world is pretty gullible to not recognize Obama's Islamic ties. [68 words]AnneJul 6, 2009 15:44158538
True enough? [248 words]Noach SternJul 2, 2009 08:34158377

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