Why is so much of the Islamic world backward and ignorant?

Let's not forget that the countries with the largest numbers of Muslims are Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. In fact although I dont have detailed data at hand, my back-of-an-envelope scribbles suggest that there are more non-Arab Muslims than there are Arab Muslims.

 

Utterly correct.

Arabs represent a smaller percentage of Muslims than Africans represent of Christianity (or was it Catholicism?). Either way, interesting statistic

 

Because of unequal distribution of resources. wealth, education, etc.

Poor uneducated people are easier to control.

 

Theocracies... Self explanatory really.

 

Because of non-muslim countries .

 

On-going colonialism. 'Free' Syria will be next to be crushed down.

 

While it is reassuring to blame others it does nothing to help solve the root of the problem. The growing evidence of the failure of the Arab Spring seems to indicate there is something else going on. I would encourage Muslims on this thread to look into themselves and their religious teachings to see if they can find something that can address the failure of progress to take root in the middle east 50 years after Western countries militarily left the place. Sure the imperialist acts of America, CIA plots, black helicopters, etc. can be blamed for some of it, but let's get real. And yes I know it will be hard on this thread considering the number of coarse, ignorant, bigots here who will look for any hint of doubt to as a weak point to stick a knife in. American and others in the west have their own devils in their souls to deal with. And some are very similar to those that beset the Islamic world.

An excerpt from a review of "The Closing of the Muslim Mind-How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis" by Robert R. Reilly

"In about a two-hundred-year period (9th through the 11th centuries, A.D./C.E.), the intellectual ferment having to do with Islamic theological issues, and how to examine those issues, ripped through the Islamic world. On one side were those Islamic thinkers whose logical tools derived from Greek philosophy; The other side was made up of those who insisted that the Koran was eternal, and must be simply accepted without question. In fact, for this latter group, the very act of questioning was blasphemous--a capital crime.

Despite the Hellenistic intellectual outlook actually being supported and adopted by three Caliphs, the argument was eventually won by the literalists. It was reason versus power exercised by pure will. Reason lost, and the results are painfully still evident."
Here's another Summary: http://www.meforum.org/3074/the-closing-of-the-muslim-mind

I'd really like to know what people on the 'inside' think about what Reilly seems to be saying. I haven't bought his book but I've read enough elsewhere to know that his point about the philosophical issues and how they have affected Muslim progress are at least worth discussing. There is another book which though old serves as an interesting counterpoint:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/who-closed-the-american-mind/

I guess it shows that blind faith in nothing can be as bad as blind faith in God (Allah).

 

Here's a wonderful video of Robert R. Reilly explaining his book. Don't be offended by some of the striking statements he makes about Islam, he explains them well during his discussion. If it makes you feel better many of his points have disturbing echos in the fundamentalist Christian movement.
[video]http://www.heritage.org/events/2010/05/the-closing-of-the-muslim-mind-how-intellectual-suicide-created-the-modern-islamist-crisis[/video]

 

The Middle East was divided into Spheres of Influence. Even after indepdence, they still relied upon one or two resources just as before.

 

The Muslims made the mistake of copy cating the Jews instead of listening to the Christian ministers who were evangelizing Arabia in 600AD.
Mohammed opposed those preachers because he had seen how all Rome fell down and became Christian.
He feared that these Christians were really invading his Arabia with religion instead of an army.
So he opposed the idea of being sexually moral like Christianity was demonstrating.

Instead, Mohammed opted to institute Sharia, which is essentially the Torah Law which forces women into hiding.
He figured that hiding the women from the young me in vails and away from ocial contact would make Arabia sexually porudent.

Which it did, of course.

But the men became Homosexual, though not "out."
And the normal incentive for men to drive hard to accomplish and succeed also disappeared.
The young men had no sexual incentive to excel, because the women still were invisible and out of reach.
So, the muslim world just died, as the young men played with themselves and become acclimated to the total unavailability of girls.

You can see the slight contrast in [places like Turkey, where women are more liberated.
The evidence shows that more is accomplished in the more liberal Muslim societies.

 

Did Mohammed really exist or was he created by a committee?

 

He was a real person.

 

So if he was a real person who saw him? He's described as being an actual person. There's a detailed physical description. There's a lot of physical action and dialogue. But no independent witness ever saw the guy. A committee wrote the Koran. The hadiths were written several generations after he supposedly died.

I say that he's just like Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, and the Lone Ranger.

 

Simple. It's against their beliefs to have pictures of him. That's why the Islamic world was upset over the cartoons of Muhammad. It goes against their beliefs.

 

Well we know how the nut jobs think Jesus looked his the popular depictions of him. So maybe the muslims are smarter about that. However, no independent witness ever saw Mohammed. BTW, who was with him and the angel in the cave that recorded their conversation? The whole Mohammed story is just like the Jesus story, BS.

 

People saw Muhammad. They just didn't bother to write it down. Why would they when it goes against their faith? The conservation he had with Gabriel, probably not real, but that's the link it needed to have in order to connect with people. People were familiar with Christianity, so having Gabriel talk to Muhammad is actually a smart move by giving it a legitmate claim.

 

No one outside of the desert saw Mohammed. And they all died without any video.

BTW, you know what the Bible says about nuts who see angels?

Colossians 2:18 (ERV) = "[SUP]18 [/SUP]Some people enjoy acting as if they are humble and love to worship angels. They always talk about the visions they have seen. Don’t listen to them when they say you are wrong because you don’t do these things. It is so foolish for them to feel such pride, because it is all based on their own human ideas."

 

How was the west able to take control in the first place? If Islam wasn;t so backward it would still be dominant over Europe as it was up until the 16th century.

 

Islam was stopped in Pouatier (sp?) and at the siege of Constantinople , also the Horde was never too interested in converting Russia .

*Post 12 is the correct answer to thread's question.

 

Because they don't like to be Americans?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uellmynA34U

 

Because religion has nothing to do with it.
That's why Muslims are among the ascendant and prosperous and among the most backwards, same as Christians, prosperity and progress is independent of religious belief.

 

Antisemitism not as usual. What about the silver half-hell medal in black for the sock suspenders?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ78qgMYEDs

 

Sure it's effective to "destroy" a mandala before it's constructed. Time is money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10084L3Pqsc

 

The economy of Germany is export based too - so perhaps we should leave NATO and EU and move to Africa? Our vandals were once there and they were very excited about the fine weather and people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFsu-AVZbI4

 

"Ora et labora et lege, Deus adest sine mora" made Europe and the USA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa-Sh6LdX1w