Islam versus Europe

Muslim and multicult apologists like to dwell on the supposed transmission of knowledge from medieval Islamic civilisation (they usually cite Muslim-ruled Spain specifically) to Christendom. They claim we should be eternally grateful to the Muslims for having gifted this knowledge to us.

Several key points should be borne in mind about this historical episode:

1) Much of the Muslim 'knowledge' was bunk. A large part of their supposed science related to things like astrology, alchemy and bogus 'voodoo' medical teachings that had no real scientific foundation.

2) Most of what was transmitted was not Muslim learning at all, but Greek. The original Greek texts had simply been translated into Arabic. Because north and western Europe had largely lost contact with Greek civilisation, they had been cut off from the flow of Greek knowledge. (Some argue that Muslim aggression was responsible for severing the links between Byzantium and the rest of Europe, but that's another debate.)

3) Many of the greatest scholars within medieval Islamic civilisation were not Muslims at all, but Jews and Christians living under conditions of dhimmitude.

4) Islam was not north-western Europe's only source of Greek learning. There were Greek colonies in southern Italy and Sicily. When these were recaptured by the Normans, a treasure trove of Greek knowledge was opened up.

5) The acquisition of knowledge came with the acquisition of territory. In other words, it was only when the Muslim-ruled areas in Spain and the Greek-ruled areas in Italy were recaptured that central and western Europe got access to this knowledge. During the years in which Islamic rule in Spain and Greek rule in Italy were solidly established, there was very little onward flow of knowledge.

The explosion of scientific translation was the product, in practice, of military success. The opening of much of Mediterranean culture to the people of the north of Europe was the result of the European conquest of southern Italy and Sicily, and of Toledo and other smaller centres in Spain. In the central area, the influence was more Greek than Arabic; in the west it was naturally exclusively Arabic.

Source: Norman Daniel, The Arabs and Medieval Europe

The last point is perhaps the most important. Multicultists like to present this transmission of knowledge as proof of the good things that can come through living amicably with Muslims. In fact it is proof of the exact opposite. There was very little transmission of knowledge when Christians lived alongside Muslims in Spain. It was only when the Christians ruthlessly attacked and defeated the Muslims that this supposed cultural enrichment occurred.