Quote from a_person:
It's a well known and undisputed fact that the Islamic golden age ended about 800-1000 years ago.
No it's not. "The Islamic Golden Age, also sometimes known as the Islamic Renaissance,[1] is traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century,[2] though some have extended it to the 15th[3] or 16th[4] centuries."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age
2008-16th century = 408 years
2008-13th century = 708 years
The well known and undisputed fact is that the islamic golden age ended between 400 and 700 years ago. The reason for this varying number is the fact that it's a little bit unclear whether one should include the ottoman empire as part of the arab/persian/african era, which it really is not. But in this particular matter, when we're talking about contributions in general by muslims, it's obviously relevant.
In other words, if you insist on using this phrase, you can not say that the muslims did not contribute
anything for the past 800 years. The very best thing you can say without ridiculing yourself is "the
middle eastern muslims have hardly contributed anything the past 700 years".
Quote from a_person:
Let alone the fact that the article's accuracy is in dispute and for a very good reason
Come on man, now you're getting desperate. Your claim was that muslims have made NO contributions, so finding one that holds it's ground is enough. Which I did.
But I get your point, the west have been contributing a whole lot more to the progression of humanity the past centuries. Nobody denies that. Trouble is, if you take islam out of the world history, the western renaissance, enlightenment and finally the industrial age might not have come for another few centuries:
"The achievements of the Arabic speaking peoples between the ninth and twelfth centuries are so great as to baffle our understanding. The decadence of Islam and of Arabic is almost as puzzling in its speed and completeness as their phenomenal rise. Scholars will forever try to explain it as they try to explain the decadence and fall of Rome. Such questions are exceedingly complex and it is impossible to answer them in a simple way."
â George Sarton , The Incubation of Western Culture in the Middle East' [206]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_contributions_to_Medieval_Europe
Just to mention ONE out of the thousands of great contributions adopted by the west is: The first universities, namely institutions of higher education and research which issue academic degrees at all levels (bachelor, master and doctorate), were medieval Madrasahs known as Jami'ah founded in the 9th century.
That's a small part of the educational contributions. In addition, you have contributions in economy, law, literature, philosophy, vocabularity, technology, music, art, engineering, architecture, physics, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, etcetera. Every single aspect of your modern life is to a large extent influenced by the existence of islam. Seriously, read this link, don't just accept that it might be true without acknowledging it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_contributions_to_Medieval_Europe