Another interesting thing is that the Muslims were very tolerant of people of other faiths during this time. I find it also interesting how tolerant environments tend to be the wellspring of innovation and advancement of knowledge and culture. Sadly, things go in cycles and the Muslim world today is not nearly as tolerant and it is thus not the wellspring of science it once was. Perhaps if tolerance ever shines in the hearts and minds of such people again that can once again change. This is also not only true of just the Muslims. All organized religions that have been around very long have had moments of intolerance.
He was also not a lone Muslim intellect. During this period of tolerance they were perhaps the most educated of all the peoples in the Western civilizations. They were even ahead of many of the eastern civilizations.
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You're certainly right, the Arab world during the Islamic Golden Age was probably hundreds of years ahead of its time. Europe wouldn't see this kind of revolution till the Renaissance, at least, but even then concepts such as freedom of speech or complete patronage of scholars are things we still struggle with today. It's hard to know to what extent there actually was freedom of speech, but it's fair to say the rest of the world was far behind. Like I mentioned in the comments earlier, at the same time the Pope was preparing the Crusades - pretty much the epitome of intolerance. Regardless, this is a topic for another thread :)
the Muslim world today is not nearly as tolerant
Or perhaps the western world wanna make you believe so again ;) But I do completely agree with what you said. A golden era was lost due to complacency, losing connection with the inspiration and corruption et al.
I don't consume mainstream media or even a single source, so that is not where I'm getting my news. I tend to try to go wide with news, and research.
There are tolerant people in the muslim religion, just as there typically are in all religions. Yet, there are a growing number of ignorant members that are not tolerant. It could be argued they are not true muslims, yet they choose the label. Whether a person is "true" any religion is easily debateable.