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

@Mattybthebest Sure it would. Without Islam the cultures and states of the Middle East would be different. Perhaps without the Islam and the conquest of east Rome, the knowledge of the Greeks would have never gone to Western Europe and spurred the enlightenment.

@Arzawa sure, but there's nothing inherently anti science im Islam, not more so than any Abrahamic religion

@Arzawa so was reach of the enlightenment due to being forced to retreat as it were

@basilfawlty89 It isn't about the texts, it is about the cultural mindset of the times and the people in power. Early Islamic scholars supported scientific endeavors and understand of what the Byzantines left behind while Rome burned books and manuscripts. Later they switched mentalities. The Protestant Reformation had a lot to do with that.

These conquerors weren't stupid. They utilized the scientists, philosophers and engineers that remained in the conquered lands. Though Islamic armies took the Levant and Anatolia, the people remained Greek and Aramaic.

@Mattybthebest In large part, yes. Byzantine artisans, scholars and scientists fled to Catholic Europe with manuscripts and traditions of thought.

@Arzawa agrees although Greeks weren't that common in Anatolia, Armenians were the historic majority. Along with Assyrians.

@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.