Thousands of years ago
>was the intellectual birthplace of our number system
>were masters of medicine
>forged massive empires
>rivaled rome
Now
>a massive shithole
>ravaged by terrorism
>burning temples and other pieces of history
What the fuck happened?
>>451674
If your country is religious and your holy book says someone should be stoned for committing adultery, progress really isn't an option.
>>451674
The number system originates in India
>>451705
Wonder how Europe is going to look in 15 to 20 years with all the middle eastern refugees they've taken in. I don't think it's so much they they are Muslims, but more the combination of coming from a war torn country + Muslim beliefs that is going to cause a fuck load of problems.
Islam, Zionism, Mongols, Colonialism
>>"Do not try to treat this board as /pol/ with dates"
Well something has gone bad
>>451674
>What the fuck happened?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman%E2%80%93Wahhabi_Warhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_of_Saudi_Arabia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_War
Basically, the Arabs revolted against the Ottoman empire with the help of the British. The British then drew a bunch of lines and map and considered it to be a good idea. They also installed the House of Saud into power, a family with a long lasting agreement with Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (radical muslim scholar, invented Wahhabism). The British also gave Palestine to the non-native jews, who had controlled the economy there since the 1920s.
The Arabs, united by nationalism, launched a movement against israel and archaic monarchies. The Saudis and israel quickly realized the nationalist Arabs would oust them from power, so a plan was devised: support radical islam in order to divide the Arabs.
Their plan, aided by the West, worked extremely well. By 2013, only one Arab nationalist remains: Bashar Al-Assad. And of course, Saudis have been importing terrorists en masse to Syria, while israel offers medical aid and air support to the terrorists.
This master plan has caused three main entities to ally together: Syrian Arab Republic, Hezbollah, and Iran (with Iraq).
Cold war happened.
>>451705
>If [...] your holy book says someone should be stoned for committing adultery
What the Quran says about stoning:
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/says_about/stoning.html
>The Quran does not mention stoning as a punishment for any crime.
What the Bible says about stoning
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/says_about/stoning.html
>Everybody must get stoned
It's funny how some memes are spread so vigorously that everyone ends up believing them, even the Muslims.
>>451734
Plenty of Muslims cherry pick their holy text just like Christians, so I wouldn't worry too much.
>>453894
It was accidentally left out of the Quran according to Mohammed's associates. The Hadith says adulterers should be stoned, though.
I was really just referring to religious texts in general; I didn't mean to sound like some pretentious Christian. Of course the Bible condones stoning.
>>453977
>It was accidentally left out
Of course it was.
Wait, wasn't the Quran supposed to be miraculously perfect?
>I was really just referring to religious texts in general; I didn't mean to sound like some pretentious Christian. Of course the Bible condones stoning
I was pointing out the inherent absurdity in your claim that "if your holy book says someone should be stoned, progress really isn't an option" because Jews and Christians are the most progressive people on Earth while Muslims got their stoning obsession from other sources (much like the veils, from what I hear.)
>>453977
>infallible holy text
>"stuff was left out"
LMAO
>>453986
If you take your holy texts literally, progress isn't an option.
>>451674
Iranian revolution happend
>>454007
>>454007
But Muslims aren't big on literalism, mostly because their sacred Quran needs heaps of interpretation to avoid contradicting itself, let alone to help settle modern issues. That's why the Hadiths (equivalent to Christianity's "Tradition") and Sharia (which I hear is a lot like Rabbinical Judaism) make authority.
So Muslims bow deeply to the clergy deemed qualified to interpret, explain and expand on their holy text for them. Meanwhile the literalist movement in Christianity (a little sect called Protestantism, you've probably never heard of it) heralded the great era of Progress in Northern Europe and America.
Basically what I'm getting at is that your received notions about religious attitudes and their impacts on societies completely fall apart when confronted with reality.
>>453977
>according to Mohammed's associates
Into the trash it goes.
>The hadith says that we should...
The Hadith isn't the Quran
>>451674
Hadiths.
>>451734
The refugee situation would be fine if the authorities would actually just screen the refugees to make sure they're not terrorists and that they're actually Syrian and not Turks or something looking to get a free pass.
Even if every single Syrian moved to Europe, the total percentage of Muslims would only increase by 1%. Syria also has an extremely low birthrate, even before the civil war started, so the idea that they're going to outbreed Europeans is also unfounded.
>>453950
This
>>451674
When people have been getting fucked over for a few decades, radicalism tends to take root. See the French Revolution, Russian Revolution, Nazi Germany, etc. The radicalism in the Middle East is just the latest part of that.
