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yardwork

(69,819 posts)
22. Islamic people developed most of what we think of as modern advances.
Sun May 17, 2026, 11:59 AM
May 17

Islamic cultures made revolutionary advances in science, medicine, art, architecture and many of the other advances that led to a great expansion of human rights and enjoyment over the past thousand years.

Islamic people developed a numeric system without which there would have been no scientific revolution, no Industrial Revolution, certainly no computer age. Imagine a world without a numeric marker for zero. Truly the dark ages.

Modern medicine... simply would not exist without Islamic influences. And so much more.

It's sad that so few people know the history of.... everything, really. Too many Americans hear "Muslim" and they think of 9/11, the Iranian hostages, the atrocities of fundamentalist right wing Islamic dictatorships - or they view Muslims as desperately poor women in hijabs mourning their babies. None of that is close to an accurate representation of the whole of Islamic culture and history.

We would all be a lot better off if we learned about and followed the basic principles of revolutionary religions. In the case of Christianity that would mean following Jesus's directives to feed the poor, love our enemies as ourselves, turn the other cheek, and generally live a life of poverty and service. I know far less about the other religions in the world but as far as I can tell they all say about the same thing. It's sad that human vices and failings corrupt us.

"Til human voices wake us, and we drown."
-- T.S. Eliot

(By the way, Eliot wrote some very antisemitic things in his poetry, but I don't reject his art because of that. We are all very imperfect beings.)

Recommendations

1 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Lucky enough to meet a couple of multigraincracker May 17 #1
Ditto malaise May 17 #2
The propaganda portrays Israel is "the good guys" and Muslims as "the bad guys" Orrex May 17 #3
Yes Israel has controlled the narrative here and elsewhere for a long time FakeNoose May 17 #8
Do you know any Jewish people? yardwork May 17 #11
Yes we have many Jewish groups in Pittsburgh and I have several friends and neighbors of the Jewish faith FakeNoose May 17 #36
So you are accusing your Jewish friends and neighbors of the following? yardwork May 17 #44
This message was self-deleted by its author Biophilic May 17 #47
Where are you seeing that? yardwork May 17 #9
Just out of curiosity... Orrex May 17 #21
Good question. I rarely use the AI results, but here goes... yardwork May 17 #23
We need to be careful not to conflate Jews as a people with the state of Israel Orrex May 17 #29
I was responding to your post above. yardwork May 17 #31
Ah yes--you did respond. My bad. Orrex May 17 #35
You have not. yardwork May 17 #37
I'm sorry that you don't care to engage with the subject seriously Orrex May 17 #38
This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m May 18 #61
Oh staaahp, you relentless flirt! Orrex May 18 #64
This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m May 18 #65
I admire the courage of your convictions, willing to stand by your totally level-headed statements Orrex May 18 #67
This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m May 18 #68
Thank you and an excellent response. Biophilic May 17 #39
This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m May 18 #60
And a lovely good morning to you as well? Orrex May 18 #63
This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m May 18 #66
Muslims: Bad press since The Crusades no_hypocrisy May 17 #4
Well, those and that little "conversion by the sword" thing. ColoringFool May 17 #5
What gets overlooked Old Crank May 17 #6
The Christian Crusaders butchered both Jews and Muslims. yardwork May 17 #12
And a lot of other Christians Old Crank May 17 #58
Not to mention a lot of women, pagans, so-called witches. yardwork May 18 #62
THIS!!!!!!! eom BlueMTexpat May 17 #13
"Conversion by the sword" is a misconception/trope used against Muslims since the Middle Ages. AloeVera May 17 #16
Islamic people developed most of what we think of as modern advances. yardwork May 17 #22
I believe there is still a tremendous amount of guilt about what happened in WWII. Biophilic May 17 #7
it didnt start w ww2. mopinko May 17 #19
What didn't start with WWII? Biophilic May 17 #24
attacks on jews. mopinko May 17 #28
It's interesting, isn't it. yardwork May 17 #32
yup. mopinko May 17 #33
Oh, good grief, no. Like a couple of millennium. Biophilic May 17 #49
it mystifies me, too. mopinko May 17 #52
All I can do is agree with you. It's honestly a mystery. And Christianity never looks good. Biophilic May 17 #53
Most of what you've written here is inaccurate. yardwork May 17 #25
As I stated in my post these are the myths I grew up with. Myths! Not truths. Biophilic May 17 #43
So you don't agree with what you wrote above? yardwork May 17 #45
Many decades of conditioning, propaganda and manipulation have brought us here. OGBuzz May 17 #10
You can say that again. yardwork May 17 #14
You're saying it becase you imagine that it serves your agenda. Orrex May 17 #41
Seems like every country needs to have a focal point to hate BeneteauBum May 17 #15
Israel has plenty of reason to fear their neighbors. yardwork May 17 #17
Basically I agree with you BeneteauBum May 17 #40
I agree with this post. yardwork May 17 #46
For them, the end justifies the means. AloeVera May 17 #18
Are you quoting Hamas? yardwork May 17 #20
You can't just "disagree" with a genocide. AloeVera May 17 #42
I think that you and I have different personalities. yardwork May 17 #48
Don't be too sure of that! AloeVera May 17 #51
Not everyone BlueWaveNeverEnd May 17 #26
Its also American terrorism SSJVegeta May 17 #27
Bigotry, willful ignorance, cognitive dissonance, disingenuousness, motivated reasoning, etc. RockRaven May 17 #30
"Israel has plenty of reason to fear their neighbors." J_William_Ryan May 17 #34
What do you think would be an appropriate way TBF May 17 #50
Before the massacre, thousands of Palestinians were being held w/o charges, questionseverything May 17 #54
Nice evasion but I'm curious - who started the fire? TBF May 17 #55
so u believe everything u read in the nyt now? mopinko May 17 #56
There are pictures, there's victim testimony, there's ashamed Isreal guards testimony questionseverything May 17 #57
Nothing will be enough. AloeVera May 17 #59
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