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A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past

bbc.com

11–20 of 56 posts

Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past

#11
The title should say "Arabic golden age" the secular attributes alone of the Arab culture created that golden age.

In fact the golden age ENDED for religious reasons (just like the Catholic church did with Galileo for example) before the Mongols invaded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXtTwNvWXc and http://www.patheos.com/blogs/marginoferr/2014/06/05/lets-sto...

Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past

#12

The title should say "Arabic golden age" the secular attributes alone of the Arab culture created that golden age. In fact the golden age ENDED for religious reasons (just like the Catholic church did with Galileo for example) before the Mongols invaded. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXtTwNvWXc and http://www.patheos.com/blogs/marginoferr/2014/06/05/lets-sto...

Secularism is a modern construct that can't be ahistorically projected to make past societies conform to our notions of modernity.

Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past

#13

The title should say "Arabic golden age" the secular attributes alone of the Arab culture created that golden age. In fact the golden age ENDED for religious reasons (just like the Catholic church did with Galileo for example) before the Mongols invaded. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXtTwNvWXc and http://www.patheos.com/blogs/marginoferr/2014/06/05/lets-sto...

Secularism is a modern construct that can't be ahistorically projected to make past societies conform to our notions of modernity.

secularism is what people do despite any religiosity

Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past

#14

> The Pool of the Arches allows visitors to relive the city’s glorious past. Caliph Harun al Rashid, who commissioned the pool, ruled during the Golden Age of Islam, when economics, science and culture flourished from the western edge of the empire in Spain all the way into Asia. The significance and accomplishments of this period became clear as our boat glided through the dark water under the tall arches, still sta…

I think it's representative of the ability of a civilization at that point in time, to think in the long term, having the capability to join knowledge with economic resources through the will to improve the lives of people. It brings the modern day into stark contrast, where we seem to have many critical areas where we are awash with knowledge that is not meeting up with the economic resources and the will to make progress.

This seems to be a problem both at a grand scale, climate change, and more local scales like the Oroville dam. As a technology alone, the cistern is neat, but the building of it, and later abandonment has maybe more to tell us in the long run.

Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past

#15

The title should say "Arabic golden age" the secular attributes alone of the Arab culture created that golden age. In fact the golden age ENDED for religious reasons (just like the Catholic church did with Galileo for example) before the Mongols invaded. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXtTwNvWXc and http://www.patheos.com/blogs/marginoferr/2014/06/05/lets-sto...

Its not as simple as that. I will reply later with a more detailed response but a common religion most certainly helped the Islamic empires (whether Arabs or Persians or Mughals) immensely by providing an almost contiguous corridor of co-coreligionists stretching from Anatolia all the way to India; this greatly facilitated trade.

Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past

#16
post #15

The title should say "Arabic golden age" the secular attributes alone of the Arab culture created that golden age. In fact the golden age ENDED for religious reasons (just like the Catholic church did with Galileo for example) before the Mongols invaded. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXtTwNvWXc and http://www.patheos.com/blogs/marginoferr/2014/06/05/lets-sto...

Its not as simple as that. I will reply later with a more detailed response but a common religion most certainly helped the Islamic empires (whether Arabs or Persians or Mughals) immensely by providing an almost contiguous corridor of co-coreligionists stretching from Anatolia all the way to India; this greatly facilitated trade.

Islam helped drive large projects that wouldn't have been completed in one's life time. One admirable attribute of Islam is that they can plan ahead like the west use to do with tunnels and bridges for example, nowadays projects are not planned to take more than 20 years, in the Muslim world they still are.

Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past

#17

The title should say "Arabic golden age" the secular attributes alone of the Arab culture created that golden age. In fact the golden age ENDED for religious reasons (just like the Catholic church did with Galileo for example) before the Mongols invaded. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXtTwNvWXc and http://www.patheos.com/blogs/marginoferr/2014/06/05/lets-sto...

Note: I'm not taking sides, but just trying to be factual.

This is very misleading. It was, in fact, Islam that was the cause of the 'golden age'. The Arabs existed for centuries with ~nil progress. If you notice, almost 99% of the inventors were Muslims, and based on their writings, dedicated ones.

Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past

#18
This article reminds me of a book written by Kim Stanley Robinson, "The Years of Rice and Salt". It's a historical fiction which explores a history in which the bubonic plague wiped out Europe, precluding Western civilization as we know it. The cultural and religious vacuum left behind is filled by Islam, Buddhism, and the Chinese dynasties. Robinson explores the evolution of humanity over the next 600 years under these influences in beautiful detail -- it's an amazing read!

Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past

#19

The title should say "Arabic golden age" the secular attributes alone of the Arab culture created that golden age. In fact the golden age ENDED for religious reasons (just like the Catholic church did with Galileo for example) before the Mongols invaded. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXtTwNvWXc and http://www.patheos.com/blogs/marginoferr/2014/06/05/lets-sto...

I think there's a pretty reasonable case to be made that the cultural and political impact of Islam itself was a major factor in creating the conditions for the Golden Age. It established Arabic as a language of learning and philosophy; emphasized community and shared values; catalyzed the development of a unified legal code and judicial framework; explicitly promoted education and the acquisition of knowledge.

Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past

#20

The title should say "Arabic golden age" the secular attributes alone of the Arab culture created that golden age. In fact the golden age ENDED for religious reasons (just like the Catholic church did with Galileo for example) before the Mongols invaded. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXtTwNvWXc and http://www.patheos.com/blogs/marginoferr/2014/06/05/lets-sto...

We've updated the title from “The hidden underground world of the Golden Age of Islam” to a representative phrase from the article.
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