Quote Originally Posted by xerx View Post
The argument that a philosophy is singularly responsible for Islam's decay is convenient, but silly.
Philosophy never had a hand in the formation or deformation of a state...guess someone should tell Jesus and Marx

Quote Originally Posted by xerx View Post
Muslim culture didn't suddenly decide to become backwards in the 13th century. It took war and economics to whittle it down.
which is exactly what I'm arguing in my view of history. States don't just die, they decline first.


Quote Originally Posted by xerx View Post
The Mongols probably had the biggest hand in destroying the Islamic golden age. Their level of destruction would be classified as genocide by any metric:
I agree that the Mongols were important. My OP on the subject wasn't attempting to be a comprehensive analysis of all of the factors which led to the Muslim Golden Age's end. The Soviet Union didn't fall apart just from the perestroika and glasnost, either. It fell apart because central planning is good for rapid industrialization but not steady growth, corruption of the leaders, etc. I was painting in broad strokes. It was supposed to be a pointing to a larger trend that nothing lasts forever, and all things eventually fall apart. You're missing the forest for the trees, man.

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