Much is said about the Islamic Renaissance at Baghdad during the 8th up to the 10th centuries, specially under the caliphate of Harun-al –Rashid. We need to realize that the Arabs lived in a hardy and barren area, which was not conducive to the growth of civilization. So there is no ethnic reason for the lack of development of the arts and sciences in Arabia. We know that the same Semitic Arabs, who lived in the fertile crescent in Mesopotamia had developed advanced civilization of Babylon. But being in the desert precluded them from developing any substantial civilization in Arabia itself.

There was no such thing like the Islamic Golden Age or Renaissance, it was the Persian North African and Egyptian converts who had a pre- Islamic legacy of being civilized, which they carried forward after being converted to Islam.

Photo credits: theage

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But Arabia is the birthplace of Islam, not Mesopotamia. So the way of life associated with Islam was based on the same meager barren desert life in Arabia and not on the traditions developed in Mesopotemia of Nebuchadnezzar and Hamourabi. Due to its roots in the barren Arabian desert, Islam was a simple religion. As Islam was born in an environment where people lived at subsistence, in an extreme climate which made them temperamental – this is the root of Muslim fanaticism. A trait that was passed on to all the people from different climatic and geographic environments who accept Islam.

This was reflected in the process of the Arabization and Islamization of the Persians, Egyptians North African, Turks, etc. But the converted Persians, Egyptians and North Africans (Carthagians) had cultured and civilized pre-Islamic pasts. They had developed advanced civilizations of Egypt Carthage and Persia. So when these people were militarily defeated and forcibly converted to Islam, they brought in cultured traits and a tradition of learning into Islam.

In fact the first codified grammar of Arabic was written by a Persian. The Arabs were unlettered, Mohammed (yimach shmo ve-zichro - may his name and memory be obliterated) himself was completely illiterate, in addition to being cruel, cunning and ruthless.

So the much vaunted Islamic renaissance was in fact a renaissance of the Persian (Zoroastrian) converts to Islam during the Persianized Abbasiad Caliphate. During the first four caliphs Abba (Abu) Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali (the last three who were murdered by other Muslims in cold blood) and the Ummayad caliphate at Damascus, there was no such thing like the Islamic Renaissance, it was the Persian North African and Egyptian converts who had a pre-Islamic legacy of being civilized, which they carried forward after being converted to Islam. In fact Islam tried to smother their pre-Islamic legacy of culture and civilization, and so it was only after the initial flush of Islamic savagery had passed over, that the newly converted people could after a generation or so pick up the threads of a civilized life. The Islamic Renaissance happened not due to Islam, but in spite of Islam being around. The Islamic Renaissance was not a triumph of Islam, but a triumph of the human spirit over Islam.

Story credits: History of Jihad

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