How did Islam destroy the classical world?

[God of Mr. Hanky]

Idiot as usual, using idiotic sources. This darling of yours, dr Bill Warner, is in no way qualified to be an expert in the field. He's only a rightwinger running his mouth on the select few outlets having him.

Islam didn't destroy the Classical World. The Classical World had been already destroyed when Islam arose. By the decline of the Roman empire, by the migration of the peoples, by raving christians destroying everything that wasn't christian. Especially in Egypt and the Middle East in general.

Islam on the other hand preserved many achievements of the Classical age. Without it we wouldn't have many of the writing of the classical authors and philosophers. And lets not forget basic hygiene. They kept the aqueducts running, whereas Rome declined spectecularly in the early Middle Ages.

In fact it was Byzanz and the Islamic realms being the last preservers of classical culture. But I'm sure, that goes way beyond your understanding and education.

True, but what of all that Muslim military activity in Europe, and the undisputed enslavement of a million Europeans? There may not have been much of a civilization for Muslims to destroy when they invaded Spain, France, and much of Italy, and they did preserve the wisdom of Europe's past, but I can only think this would mean nothing to the average European who's land was being invaded, and whose children were being enslaved by those hordes of camel-kissers. What this may shed insight on is there may have been some legitimate motivation for joining the Crusades. Yes, I know, the Muslims were already, or mostly driven out before the first pope called up his own anti-Muslim war, but if I were Spanish, French, or Italian in the 10th Century, I'm pretty sure I would want to see the murderous brutes (culture-preserving or not, they did like to fight and kill) driven as far away from my land as possible after what they did in my home.

By the accounts which I have read, the pre-European Rennaisance culture of the Muslims was in no way an ignorant one among ruling class. So would this have made Europe a better place earlier on, and far better today? Perhaps, but then perhaps not. To hear the accounts on Muslim settlers in Spain, they were not only wise but benevolent to most Europeans, who drove them out for the stupidest of reasons, in the name of papal power. Then again, maybe one too many of them had a son who was forced to beg on the streets while holding out his remaining hand, just for steeling an apple which had already fallen off the truck!

On scientific progress, who knows what could have happened - perhaps we may have already been colonizing the stars today! On the other hand, I truly shudder to think of Europe, America, and Oceania still reeling under the influence of anti-math and anti-philosophy al-Ghazali, who may have come to power there as well.

In light of the fact that a smart culture could fall so hard to al-Ghazali's evil yammering, it doesn't really look so much like they could have really been all that smart. Maybe they too had an inbreeding problem, or they should have taken the advice of their slaves more seriously.