"Because nearly all of these figures wrote in Arabic, they were long assumed to have been Arabs. In fact, they were from Central Asia--drawn from the Persianate and Turkic peoples of a region that today extends from Kazakhstan southward through Afghanistan, and from the easternmost province of Iran through Xinjiang, China."
Hmm, always suspect when you see a thesis about a large and varied group of societies doing anything en masse. For example, today Iran is about 20% the size of the USA, but produces nearly as many engineers[1], in spite of being an Islamic republic. 1: https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2015/06/09/the-co...
If you really want to upset an Iranian, call him an Arab. Iranians are not Arabs, and their language (and culture) is totally different, in spite of using the same alphabet. This unfortunately common mistake is up there with confusing Spaniards with Mexicans.
Oh, absolutely - I was responding to the claim in the OP that 'Contemporary Islam is not known for its engagement in the modern scientific project' (the opening sentence), which of course is completely out of step with the title of the piece, given that the three largest Islamic nations (Indonesia, Pakistan, and Iran) are not Arab states.
That was a thoughtful read. I would encourage anyone to actually read it; the author seems to know what he's talking about and to have carefully considered what he's saying.