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 :)