The decadence of the Arab world

[cloud4000]

Even within the Muslim world, the Arab countries have been eclipsed, intellectually, and scientifically, by countries like Turkey and even Iran. You would think that the Gulf Arab states, with their immense wealth, would push ahead but they are content with the status quo, letting foreigners do most of the heavy lifting while their citizens get fat with generous government largesse.

I remember when Baghdad was the intellectual capital of the Arab world. Will it ever return.

 

[insight-out]

By far the greatest cause for the current state of the Arabs is this: The feeling of inferiority against the Europeans, and their need to compensate for it by using Islam to justify their superiority over other Muslims.

This complex has left them essentially losers on both sides; on one hand, they will never be equals to the "West", because they themselves do not believe it; on the other hand, they will never earn the respect, and loyalty of other Muslims.

 

[Valar.]

Lack of critical thinking.

 

[ARCH٤R]

Egypt was torn by wars well into 1980, this lead Egypt to have Military generals as presidents - with no clue of how to make a modern country. The country became a wrestling arena with 2 fighters; Islamists and Military Elites. Egypt nowadays is ruled by a Military Elite who, unlike other presidents, has a well educated and organized government which take decisions based on knowledge and studies and not based on popularity or the preferences of the strong few. If you want to learn more about the region and Arabs, go for translated Arabic books or books published in the west with the least bias towards Israel - I recommend ones about the military since the core of the Arab states by then was always around the Military.

 

[ZeEa5KPul]

You and everyone else here will deeply dislike this answer, OP, but an honest and sober study of history will give the obvious answer: Islam. Just as an example, consider these hadith

He who innovates or gives protection to an innovator, there is a curse of Allah and that of His angels and that of the whole humanity upon him.

and

The most evil matters are those that are newly invented, for every newly invented matter is an innovation. Every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Hellfire.

What kind of mentality and culture is a religious doctrine like that going to develop? Do you think this is fertile ground for scientific inquiry?

Examine the correlation between poverty, war, conflict, terrorism, illiteracy, backwardness, etc. and the prevalence of Islam. I know that correlation is not causation, but correlation must still be explained. What do you think the explanation is?

That's not to say that Islam is any worse than the other Abrahamic religions, but they have had their role in society limited and circumscribed (separation of church and state). Not so with Islam.

Consider also the reaction to this post. I'm very likely going to be banned for it or it will at the very least get a negative rating - which will make my point about closed-mindedness and dogmatism exactly.

 

[Mad Scientist 2.0]

You and everyone else here will deeply dislike this answer, OP, but an honest and sober study of history will give the obvious answer: Islam. Just as an example, consider these hadith

and

What kind of mentality and culture is a religious doctrine like that going to develop? Do you think this is fertile ground for scientific inquiry?

Examine the correlation between poverty, war, conflict, terrorism, illiteracy, backwardness, etc. and the prevalence of Islam. I know that correlation is not causation, but correlation must still be explained. What do you think the explanation is?

That's not to say that Islam is any worse than the other Abrahamic religions, but they have had their role in society limited and circumscribed (separation of church and state). Not so with Islam.

Consider also the reaction to this post. I'm very likely going to be banned for it or it will at the very least get a negative rating - which will make my point about closed-mindedness and dogmatism exactly.

You completely missed the plot in the Hadith. The Hadith is talking about innovation in religion , like incorporrating things which are not originally prescribed in religion which is considered an act of disbeliever.

Regarding science there is no proof in any religious literature saying scientific discovery is haram. If it was haram then the muslims would not have contributed to science in their time. Even evolution as a theory came into existence at the hand of early Muslims which is considered as blasphemous in Christian world .

 

[Dragon of Bosnia]

You and everyone else here will deeply dislike this answer, OP, but an honest and sober study of history will give the obvious answer: Islam. Just as an example, consider these hadith

and

What kind of mentality and culture is a religious doctrine like that going to develop? Do you think this is fertile ground for scientific inquiry?

Examine the correlation between poverty, war, conflict, terrorism, illiteracy, backwardness, etc. and the prevalence of Islam. I know that correlation is not causation, but correlation must still be explained. What do you think the explanation is?

That's not to say that Islam is any worse than the other Abrahamic religions, but they have had their role in society limited and circumscribed (separation of church and state). Not so with Islam.

Consider also the reaction to this post. I'm very likely going to be banned for it or it will at the very least get a negative rating - which will make my point about closed-mindedness and dogmatism exactly.

The hadith you quoted refers exclusively to the prohibition on introducing innovations in the faith and does not apply to other segments of life.

Faith is simple, it is love because God is Love. Believe in love, do good and prevent evil, stick to Prophetic practice and don't innovate in it.

If you consider Islam to be the cause of the backwardness of the Arabs, how do you explain that Islam was precisely the cause of the great civilization in the Golden age of the Arabs when science and culture were at the forefront?

So, looking from this perspective, Islam is not to blame for the current situation already people, they have forgotten the first word of God's revelation... IKRE (learn, observe, think). As soon as people have forgotten the first imperative of God we have this present state that we see.

Although I do not completely agree with your answer, I still see no reason to ban your message, thanks for the answer.

 

[Indos]

You and everyone else here will deeply dislike this answer, OP, but an honest and sober study of history will give the obvious answer: Islam. Just as an example, consider these hadith

and

What kind of mentality and culture is a religious doctrine like that going to develop? Do you think this is fertile ground for scientific inquiry?

Examine the correlation between poverty, war, conflict, terrorism, illiteracy, backwardness, etc. and the prevalence of Islam. I know that correlation is not causation, but correlation must still be explained. What do you think the explanation is?

That's not to say that Islam is any worse than the other Abrahamic religions, but they have had their role in society limited and circumscribed (separation of church and state). Not so with Islam.

Consider also the reaction to this post. I'm very likely going to be banned for it or it will at the very least get a negative rating - which will make my point about closed-mindedness and dogmatism exactly.

Look like you are easy to be fooled and just take one statement and dont try to think deeper of what the statement actually means. No wonder you are a CCP worshiper.

You and everyone else here will deeply dislike this answer, OP, but an honest and sober study of history will give the obvious answer: Islam. Just as an example, consider these hadith

LOL and honest and sober study. What a joke of the day.............

Those two post above me have given explanation of what that hadith actually means.

 

[jamahir]

The latter such as oil rich countries in Gulf, and North Africa. Those must be under control to some extent.

Libya under Gaddafi's guidance set up the world's largest water delivery system called 'The Great Man-Made river'.

Wikipedia info.

Other info.

 

[Indos]

The problem with current Arab is their mentality, not being able to accept differences among themselves. Islamist and Secularist/Nasionalis should be able to live side by side and compete in ballots instead of using guns and power to decide who will rule the country.

And once they have accepted to be ruled by democracy, they should hold the democracy and dont destroy it if one of the party lost in the fair election. If they dont respect the game of the rule, their democracy will be destroyed and military will come again to politics and ruled with iron fish like what happen in Egypt. Other example is Thailand (non Muslim), their divided country and continuous demonstration has brought military into politics again.

Syria is destroyed because the leaderships doesnt go and instead fight the people. Look at countries like Philippine and Indonesia where the leaderships are stepping down voluntarily after the people want democracy.

I hope Libya and Yemen learn this thing and I see Libya is now considering to change their previous mindset and try to solve their differences through consultation and democracy, two things which are correlated to each other and is promoted in Quran.

Quran, Chapter (42) sūrat As-Shūrā (Consultation) verse : 38

Sahih International: And those who have responded to their lord and established prayer and whose affair is [determined by] consultation among themselves, and from what We have provided them, they spend.

 

[jamahir]

Syria is destroyed because the leaderships doesnt go and instead fight the people.

Assad shouldn't go just because the Western governments and their puppets want him to. The same is happening in Venezuela.

Brother, we should look at the real reason for wars in Iraq, Libya and Syria, and the situation in Venezuela. All of these were / socialist countries. In the 80s that was the case in Afghanistan too. Why is the West not talking about regime change in say India and Pakistan ?

Assad is the person to lead Syria at the moment. Once the Syrian people ( Assad supporters ) win the war, I desire for the Syrians to become even more socialist by adopting the direct democracy political system that existed in Libya until 2011.

 

[ZeEa5KPul]

To those who said the hadith I posted refer only to religious "innovation", yes - but the mentality applies more broadly. It's not a long journey to go from "religious truth is contained solely in the Quran and hadith, and any further inquiry is forbidden" to "all truth is contained solely in the Quran and hadith, and any further inquiry is forbidden". As for the so-called "golden age", that was more due to Muslim conquests unifying Byzantium and Persia, which were developed societies in their time. What should be explained is why Islam at the very least failed to preserve this golden age if not led to its downfall.

There's also something else to consider. Any Muslim society that advanced following the Industrial Revolution advanced only when Islam was pushed out of public life, like Turkey under Ataturk.

 

[vi-va]

Libya under Gaddafi's guidance set up the world's largest water delivery system called 'The Great Man-Made river'.

Wikipedia info.

Other info.

Yes, Libya just pay for it with oil money. The foreign companies do the work.

 

[jamahir]

I hope Libya and Yemen learn this thing and I see Libya is now considering to change their previous mindset and try to solve their differences through consultation and democracy, two things which are correlated to each other and is promoted in Quran.

You speak of consultation and democracy in context of Libya. I agree. Actually those two were what was the system in Libya until 2011. Please read that political system / theory here.

Yes, Libya just pay for it with oil money. The foreign companies do the work. Nothing to be proud of.

Yes, some of the work was done by foreign companies but if you consult the Wiki page some of the work was also done in Libya, presumably by Libyans.

 

[triangle]

You and everyone else here will deeply dislike this answer, OP, but an honest and sober study of history will give the obvious answer: Islam. Just as an example, consider these hadith

and

What kind of mentality and culture is a religious doctrine like that going to develop? Do you think this is fertile ground for scientific inquiry?

Examine the correlation between poverty, war, conflict, terrorism, illiteracy, backwardness, etc. and the prevalence of Islam. I know that correlation is not causation, but correlation must still be explained. What do you think the explanation is?

That's not to say that Islam is any worse than the other Abrahamic religions, but they have had their role in society limited and circumscribed (separation of church and state). Not so with Islam.

Consider also the reaction to this post. I'm very likely going to be banned for it or it will at the very least get a negative rating - which will make my point about closed-mindedness and dogmatism exactly.

I assume you think modernity is good and pre-modern traditional religions and society are bad?