What positive things has Islam added to the world?

[Goon]

-Sharia Law causing immense poverty
-Influx of immigrants fleeing their shitty countries
-Said immigrants crying about the country they moved to not being shitty
-Immense abuse of women(understatement)
-Sanctioned pedophilia.. /Fighting for the right to marry off their children
-Dressing up little boys and raping them being part of their culture
am i missing an invention or something???

[josephpalazzo]

Well in the Golden Age, Islam produced the first scientist: Ibn al-Haytham (965CE - 1040CE). It's too unfortunate and a great lost to humanity that a bunch of religious fundamentalists crushed the Golden Age and sent the Islamic countries back to the Stone Age.

http://lostislamichistory.com/ibn-al-haytham-the-first-scientist/

[Munch]

Islam, in its past, was something of a learned culture and one that did lead to the findings of certain things.

They discovered coffee, how the eye processes light, Distillation, surgical instrument, and dozens of other things when their culture was lead by great thinkers on par with greece and china. As Joseph said though, sadly, the country today is a shadow of its former self.

[Shiranu]

... sadly, the country today is a shadow of its former self.

Eh?

I realise that was most likely a typo, but I do think it unintentionally hit on something many people think; that the Muslim world is at all homogenous instead of a region of extremely different cultures. To say, "The Muslim World..." as one organization is akin to saying, "The United States..." and then going on stereotypes about how we all ride horses, wear cowboy hats and blue jeans and listen to Garth Brooks while beating our wives in the trailer park.

There is a huge difference between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Egypt and Pakistan, Turkey and Singapore, Palestine and Jordan, Syria and the U.A.E.. And that is just in the Muslim world and not recognizing Muslim immigrants who have made huge contributions to their new countries; Ahmed Zewail who was the first Egyptian to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Prof. Atta-Ur-Rahman (another renowned chemist) who won the UNESCO Science prize, Dr Mahbub ul Haq who created the Human Development Index, and so on. Likewise if you go to any university today, you will find many Muslims who are mastering in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and so on.

Is the Islamic world predominately third world? Yes, and a large part has to do with religious fundamentalism. However you have to also consider that most of the Islamic world up until as little as 30 years ago were puppet states of either the United States or the Soviet Union, and even shorter before they overthrew the dictators those powers placed to rule. Likewise you have to consider that the majority of extremist groups were Western backed to fight the Soviets, and Saudi Wahhabism has been propped up by the Western world's dependence on oil. It is ultimately a problem that is both incredibly complex and incredibly holistic... you cannot find one or two causes but rather have to look at a huge field of history, culture, economics, post-imperialism governments and so on to even begin to understand why the Middle East is in the state it is in.

-------------------------

I was going to respond seriously to OP, but after reading his post several times I feel that would be a quite wasted endeavor so... bullet point response time!

-Sharia Law causing immense poverty

Frankly just wrong on every level.

-Influx of immigrants fleeing their shitty countries
-Said immigrants crying about the country they moved to not being shitty

A. Made a long response to this for someone else awhile back but... people have said the same thing of my ancestors, of Mexicans, of Irish, of Catholics, of "Communists", etc. etc. . It is just a cyclical way the world works, to blame immigrants for everything.
B. Shows some real sense of historical, socio-economic and political ignorance of why they are fleeing.

-Immense abuse of women(understatement)

As does some sects of Christianity. By the way, of the top worse countries to be a woman, Christian countries and Muslim countries share the stage almost equally, with a few Hindu, Buddhist and whatever China claims to be and actually is sprinkled in there. Abuse of women is not an Islamic thing, nor a Christian thing... not even an Abrahamic religion thing.

-Sanctioned pedophilia

Maybe you have heard of this thing called, "The Vatican". If not, I recommend you look at some of the stories about them lately. Your world view that the West would never sanction pedophilia might just be a bit shaken though... so you have been warned.

Dressing up little boys and raping them being part of their culture

A. Again, implying the Muslim world is at all homogenous culturally.
B.

[Munch]

Your right, it was a typo. Force of habit, but I was referring to islam in the same sense as ancient greece in its culture and the Persian culture, in the more theocratic sense.

[aitm]

I am sure of the oil rich countries many advances have been made in manufacturing and agriculture. They probably have their own tractor and automobile factories and large farms that produce millions of pounds of foods and certainly they would lead the world in animal products and have huge plants that produce cheese and other dairy products and those on the ocean with all their money probably lead the world in seafood production……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. or maybe not.

[doorknob]

Eh?

I realise that was most likely a typo, but I do think it unintentionally hit on something many people think; that the Muslim world is at all homogenous instead of a region of extremely different cultures. To say, "The Muslim World..." as one organization is akin to saying, "The United States..." and then going on stereotypes about how we all ride horses, wear cowboy hats and blue jeans and listen to Garth Brooks while beating our wives in the trailer park.

There is a huge difference between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Egypt and Pakistan, Turkey and Singapore, Palestine and Jordan, Syria and the U.A.E.. And that is just in the Muslim world and not recognizing Muslim immigrants who have made huge contributions to their new countries; Ahmed Zewail who was the first Egyptian to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Prof. Atta-Ur-Rahman (another renowned chemist) who won the UNESCO Science prize, Dr Mahbub ul Haq who created the Human Development Index, and so on. Likewise if you go to any university today, you will find many Muslims who are mastering in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and so on.

Is the Islamic world predominately third world? Yes, and a large part has to do with religious fundamentalism. However you have to also consider that most of the Islamic world up until as little as 30 years ago were puppet states of either the United States or the Soviet Union, and even shorter before they overthrew the dictators those powers placed to rule. Likewise you have to consider that the majority of extremist groups were Western backed to fight the Soviets, and Saudi Wahhabism has been propped up by the Western world's dependence on oil. It is ultimately a problem that is both incredibly complex and incredibly holistic... you cannot find one or two causes but rather have to look at a huge field of history, culture, economics, post-imperialism governments and so on to even begin to understand why the Middle East is in the state it is in.

-------------------------

I was going to respond seriously to OP, but after reading his post several times I feel that would be a quite wasted endeavor so... bullet point response time!

Frankly just wrong on every level.

A. Made a long response to this for someone else awhile back but... people have said the same thing of my ancestors, of Mexicans, of Irish, of Catholics, of "Communists", etc. etc. . It is just a cyclical way the world works, to blame immigrants for everything.
B. Shows some real sense of historical, socio-economic and political ignorance of why they are fleeing.

As does some sects of Christianity. By the way, of the top worse countries to be a woman, Christian countries and Muslim countries share the stage almost equally, with a few Hindu, Buddhist and whatever China claims to be and actually is sprinkled in there. Abuse of women is not an Islamic thing, nor a Christian thing... not even an Abrahamic religion thing.

Maybe you have heard of this thing called, "The Vatican". If not, I recommend you look at some of the stories about them lately. Your world view that the West would never sanction pedophilia might just be a bit shaken though... so you have been warned.

A. Again, implying the Muslim world is at all homogeneous culturally.
B.

though does protest too much.

Don't bash Christianity to a bunch of atheists! We don't give a crap. We bash all religions equally. What Christianity does or doesn't do doesn't alleviate the Islamic doctrine which IS being used as an excuse for all the above in their own backward countries. Red herring.

[aitm]

well they have added a rather snappy style of dress…...

[Shiranu]

Don't bash Christianity to a bunch of atheists! We don't give a crap. We bash all religions equally.

If you want to accuse me of a red herring, perhaps do not begin with a logical fallacy of thinking all atheists are like yourself. Unless you want to accuse me of not being an atheist.

What you mean to say is, "Don't bash Christianity to a bunch of anti-theists. We don't give a crap. We bash all religions equally.". To which I reply, "Okay. That's nice. Have fun with that. Just don't expect any more respect than you give."

What Christianity does or doesn't do doesn't alleviate the Islamic doctrine which IS being used as an excuse for all the above in their own backward countries.

Right. So showing that there are clearly deeper underlying causes since it's a problem endemic to all of humanity, regardless of religion, is now trying to alleviate the blame from Islam.

If by "alleviate the blame from Islamic doctrine" you mean not accuse them of things that are not an Islamic thing but a human thing, then by all means I am trying to alleviate the blame. But if all you got out of that post was, "Lol Islam is evil, don't make excuses!" then I really think you need to take a nice look at your prejudices before responding.

I am sure of the oil rich countries many advances have been made in manufacturing and agriculture.

Hmmm...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_sector_composition

Funny, the oil rich countries seem to lead in Agriculture and Production by GDP. And you expect a group of countries that look like this...





...to be world leaders in exporting crops? I think you do not have much of a concept of how farming works.

(P.S. - Iran and Turkey, two of the countries that actually have ample farmland, are in the top 5 countries of food producing/exporting countries).

[doorknob]

If you want to accuse me of a red herring, perhaps do not begin with a logical fallacy of thinking all atheists are like yourself. Unless you want to accuse me of not being an atheist.

What you mean to say is, "Don't bash Christianity to a bunch of anti-theists. We don't give a crap. We bash all religions equally.". To which I reply, "Okay. That's nice. Have fun with that. Just don't expect any more respect than you give."

I don't, don't worry. I tend to not care about getting respect of people I don't respect.

Right. So showing that there are clearly deeper underlying causes since it's a problem endemic to all of humanity, regardless of religion, is now trying to alleviate the blame from Islam.

If by "alleviate the blame from Islamic doctrine" you mean not accuse them of things that are not an Islamic thing but a human thing, then by all means I am trying to alleviate the blame. But if all you got out of that post was, "Lol Islam is evil, don't make excuses!" then I really think you need to take a nice look at your prejudices before responding.

Hmmm...

I guess you can't understand what Islamic doctrine supporting shitty behavior means. Of course all of those things happen world wide but there is a strong prevalence amongst fundamentalists. Ignoring that fact is just negligent. And I'm not making excuses you are! Sorry but islam doesn't get a pass! It's a shitty religion! I have no prejudices, islam is a religion not a race! So then maybe yes I am prejudice to the extreme where any or all religions are concerned.

[Shiranu]

I don't, don't worry. I tend to not care about getting respect of people I don't respect.

Again, fair enough. A shitty and immature outlook on life, but you have every right to it and I doubt you care one way or another.

I have no prejudices, islam is a religion not a race!

Look up the definition of prejudice. And go back and re-read my first post if you are ever interested in shaking the, frankly, dead wrong world view that Islam is at all some uniform entity.

So then maybe yes I am prejudice to the extreme where any or all religions are concerned.

Sounds like a personal problem then.

[doorknob]

Look up the definition of prejudice. And go back and re-read my first post if you are ever interested in shaking the, frankly, dead wrong world view that Islam is at all some uniform entity.

UM No true Scotsman fallacy. No one fucking said that islam is a uniform entity. I call it like I see it. Islam does not get a pass from criticism.

Sounds like a personal problem then.

Then why comment on it?

[trdsf]

Islam, in its past, was something of a learned culture and one that did lead to the findings of certain things.

They discovered coffee, how the eye processes light, Distillation, surgical instrument, and dozens of other things when their culture was lead by great thinkers on par with greece and china. As Joseph said though, sadly, the country today is a shadow of its former self.

And don't forget preserving the "pagan" knowledge of classical Greece while Europe was burning pre-christian works as being "ungodly".  Much of what we know about classical Hellenic science and mathematics exists only because early Islamic cultures preserved knowledge rather than burned it.  Many of the stars in the sky still bear the names given them by Islamic astronomers -- Aldebaran, Algol, Altair, Betelgeuse, Deneb, Denebola, Fomalhaut, Mizar, Rasalhague, Rigel and Vega are only the best known of them.

'Algebra' is a word of Arabic origin, and 'algorithm'.  So is 'alcohol'.  And 'chemistry', via 'alchemy'.  And 'candy', 'cipher', and even 'tuna' which you could possibly keep in a 'jar'.

Now, if you change that question to "What positive things has Islam added to the world lately?" it becomes harder to answer.  But then, that's a hard question for any religion to answer.

[dtq123]

Again, fair enough. A shitty and immature outlook on life, but you have every right to it and I doubt you care one way or another.

No one wants Respect, we all want power and fear!

Seriously though, they fought off the Mongolian empire for a bit when the Delhi sultanate was up and about. And won a lot. Now that's badass.

Replace Mr. Kim with Arabic guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afnJbdT4t5g

[Shiranu]

UM No true Scotsman fallacy. No one fucking said that islam is a uniform entity. I call it like I see it. Islam does not get a pass from criticism.

No one is calling for Islam to get a pass, but when you make statements about the "Islamic doctrine" with certain aspects in mind, you are implying that all Muslims are the same, and that all Islam is the same. You yell "No True Scotsman" when that is the very thing you are saying; that only the Islam you criticize exists, and that it doesn't have different sects and different levels of adherences that vary from culture to culture.

Do not project your failure to realise that mistake on to me.

Then why comment on it?

Your the one waving his edgy dick about how you don't give a fuck in public, not me. Why bring it up if you don't want people to comment on it?

Now, if you change that question to "What positive things has Islam added to the world lately?" it becomes harder to answer.  But then, that's a hard question for any religion to answer.

This is the question that should be asked, rather than focusing on a xenophobic view as OP has.