In Western Europe, the states which emerged after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West were backward with regard to scientific and philosophical inquiry …
Within about 150 years after the initial Islamic conquests, during the Abbasid caliphate (750–1258), Islamic countries became world leaders in scientific inquiry.
Scientific and philosophical inquiry was non-existent among the Arab tribes at the time Muhammad started his new religion, Islam, beginning of the 7th century. By the 9th century, however, areas ruled by Islam became important centers of science and philosophy. This Islamic “Golden Age” lasted several hundred years, but then a decline followed, from which science under Islam never since recovered. Why did this happen? And why was there a different development in Europe?