What would the Middle East look like if Mohamed had died in his cave before spreading his message? [Spirituality & Religion]

@Arzawa also protestantism didn't have that much to do with it. The Renaissance wasn't Protestant and a precursor to enlightenment.

@basilfawlty89 On the first point, that's not accurate. By the 1300s most of Anatolia had been Hellenized. While Armenians were dominant in the east, Greeks constituted the majority of Anatolia. Assyrians didn't have a large population in Anatolia. Assyrians are from Northern Iraq.

Yes, the renaissance was a precursor to the enlightenment. Protestantism though built upon the ideas of thought and intellectual query. The encouragement of Protestants to read the bible and not rely on clergy was unique for the time. Protestant countries over time became more accepting of intellectual heresies, unlike Catholic dominated Europe.

@Arzawa actually, the Bible wasn't banned to read for lay catholics, that's a myth, most of the scriptures were in Latin most people were not literate. Also, the first English translation of the Bible was Catholic, not Protestant. This view is commonly due to British propaganda due to anti Catholicism.

Anatolia actually corresponds to the Armenian highland. You are correct about the Assyrians though.

@Arzawa likely conquered, Turks turkified many things and pushed their language on people. You're correct about western Anatolia, but eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus was invaded by successive Turkic waves.

@basilfawlty89 Are you referring to the Azerbaijanis? These Turkic populations didn't conquer or Empire. They invaded to flee the Mongols. I wonder if they would have just been absorbed into local populations like the Germanic invasion of the Roman Empire.

@Arzawa untrue, they did come to conquer. See Ak Qoyunlu and Kara Qoyunlu tribes.

Yes but it wasn’t as regressive as suggested. @Arzawa

@Arzawa and I could argue the Greeks didn't contribute that much they didn't get from Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Egypt and Persia.

Still contributions. Still important.

@basilfawlty89 I guess. America invented cars, but nobody can argue with the impact of German and Japanese contributions to the market.