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Some academics claim that the contributions of [[Islam]] and the [[Islamic Golden Age|Golden Age of Islam]] are often exaggerated or fabricated, and are not well supported by physical evidence.

Was there an '''Islamic Golden Age''' in the period 700-900AD, and what impact did it have?

The claims that [[Islam]] had a remarkable golden age are often exaggerated, and are not well supported by physical evidence.

John O'Neill has recently published [http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Warriors-John-J-ONeill/dp/0980994896 Holy Warriors: Islam and the Decline of Classical Civilization], in which he discusses the historical evidence for Islam's influence for the '''loss''' of [[Classical Antiquity]], and the lack of archaeological support for such an age.

[[File:Oneill1.jpg|thumb|270px]]

In his 1936 book, ‘Mohammed et Charlemagne’, Belgian historian [[Henri Pirenne]] argued in great detail that the [[Dark Ages]] of Europe began rather suddenly in the middle of the seventh century; and that this sudden and catastrophic decline in civilization was due to Islam’s blockade of the Mediterranean. Up to that time, Pirenne showed, there was no evidence of a decline in Classical culture. True, the Western Roman Empire as a political entity had disappeared in 476, but the literate, prosperous and urban civilization, which we call "Classical", continued virtually uninterrupted. The [[Goths]] and other "Barbarian" peoples, who ruled the provinces of the West after 467, did not try to destroy Roman civilization and civil society. Indeed, as Pirenne showed in great detail, they did everything in their power to preserve it. They adopted the Latin language, accepted Imperial titles from the Emperor in Constantinople, and minted gold coins with the image of the Eastern Emperor emblazoned upon them.<ref>[http://www.islam-watch.org/iw-new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=205:islam-and-dark-age-of-byzantium&catid=92:john&Itemid=58 Islam and the Dark Age of Byzantium]</ref>

 

Regarding the decline of Classical Civilization, O'Neill claims history shows that it was not the [[Barbarians]] or the Christians that killed Classical Civilization, but the Islamic Arabs:

 

One of the most enduring problems of history is the decline of Classical Civilization. How was it that the civilization of Greece and Rome, which had endured almost a thousand years, a civilization which prized learning, science and reason, gave way to the world of the Medieval; an age which saw, for a while, the almost complete disappearance of the rationalist spirit of Greece and Rome? The traditional view was that after their seizure of Italy in the fifth century, the Barbarian tribes of Germany and [[Scythia]] had reduced Europe to an economic and cultural wasteland, initiating a Dark Age, which was to last half a millennium. After the Reformation, another suspect was added to the list: Christianity, or, more accurately, Catholic Christianity. In this view Christianity was corrupted beyond recognition after the time of [[Constantine]] and from the fourth century onwards a power-hungry Church hierarchy, in cahoots with the Imperial authorities, kept the population of Europe in subservience and ignorance, effectively completing the destructive work of the Barbarians.

 

==Archaeology and the lack of an Islamic Golden Age==

==Archaeology and the lack of an Islamic Golden Age==

O'Neill continues

O'Neill (2009) argues:

<blockquote>

<blockquote>

The Arabs who emerged from Arabia with Caliph Umar were mostly illiterate nomads, whose knowledge of what we call science was non-existent. Like all barbarians, they were of course impressed, to begin with at least, by the advanced and civilized cultures which they overran. Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia were ancient civilizations with unique attributes. Each had long-established universities, libraries and traditions of learning. When the Arabs conquered these regions there is evidence that they permitted these institutions, for a short time at least, to continue. Furthermore, these nations, and Persia in particular, were conduits through which flowed new ideas and techniques from the great civilizations of the Far East, from India and China. Much, indeed most, of the new technologies and methods that medieval Europeans learned from the Arabs, were not Arab or even Near Eastern at all, but Chinese and Indian. Europeans used the Arabic names for these things (such as “zero” from the Arabic zirr), because it was from Arab sources that they learned them. But they were not Arab.<ref>[http://www.islam-watch.org/iw-new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111:the-real-islamic-golden-age&catid=92:john&Itemid=58 The Real Islamic 'Golden Age']</ref>

The Arabs who emerged from Arabia with Caliph Umar were mostly illiterate nomads, whose knowledge of what we call science was non-existent. Like all barbarians, they were of course impressed, to begin with at least, by the advanced and civilized cultures which they overran. Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia were ancient civilizations with unique attributes. Each had long-established universities, libraries and traditions of learning. When the Arabs conquered these regions there is evidence that they permitted these institutions, for a short time at least, to continue. Furthermore, these nations, and Persia in particular, were conduits through which flowed new ideas and techniques from the great civilizations of the Far East, from India and China. Much, indeed most, of the new technologies and methods that medieval Europeans learned from the Arabs, were not Arab or even Near Eastern at all, but Chinese and Indian. Europeans used the Arabic names for these things (such as “zero” from the Arabic zirr), because it was from Arab sources that they learned them. But they were not Arab.<ref>[http://www.islam-watch.org/iw-new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111:the-real-islamic-golden-age&catid=92:john&Itemid=58 The Real Islamic 'Golden Age']</ref>

</blockquote>

</blockquote>

==The Darker Impact of Islam on Europe==

==The Darker Impact of Islam on Europe==

</blockquote>

</blockquote>

A similar and even more detailed analysis of Islam's impact on Europe can be found in Egyptian scholar and historian [[Bat Ye'or]]'s [[The Decline of Eastern Christianity: From Jihad to Dhimmitude]], in which she meticulously documents the destruction of Western culture under the hands of Islamic conquerors.

A similar and even more detailed analysis of Islam's impact on Europe can be found in Egyptian scholar and historian Bat Ye'or's ''The Decline of Eastern Christianity: From Jihad to Dhimmitude'' (1996), in which she meticulously documents the destruction of Western culture under the hands of Islamic conquerors.

 

 

==References==

==References==

[[Category:Islam]]

[[Category:Islam]]

[[category:Medieval History]]

[[category:Medieval History]]