Islam Yet to Reach Middle Ages

I was reading the American Thinker today and came across an interesting article.

Please do not call Islam “medieval.” Islam never made it to the Middle Ages, and if it is stuck in the past, it is stuck in the ancient world from which it arose, the decadent Hellenism it ill understood.

Iraq was the cradle of civilization, Persia the rival of Rome, Asia Minor as intellectual as Athens. Look at them today. Europe was a land of isolated settlements, ignorant and superstitious, the haunt of wolves and ghastly spirits, America a thinly settled land of warring tribes. Look at them today, though not too hard. The Holy Land gave us Moses and David, Isaiah and Jesus; (today) it gives us Hamas and Hezbollah.

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This brings up some valid points. If Islam is really such a great religion, why does it seem to be holding back it supporters? It's hard to argue with the facts laid out in this article. At one time the Middle East was a thousand years ahead of the rest of the world in almost every aspect. Mathematics, reading, and science were born there. What now? I would even venture to say that this part of the world has regressed while the rest of the world is soaring ahead in leaps and bounds. Shouldn't the Saudis have their own space station? Why is it that Persia(Iran) is struggling to obtain technology that the U.S. had in the 1940s?

Something to think about at the very least.

I believe the reason is that they are ruled by Mullahs, Imams etc, who have an interest in terms of personal power and finance to see that this continues as long as possible.

Most other nations are ruled by lay people: politicians who must bend (eventually) to the law of logic and fairness where Islam follows strictly the law of God.
Interpreted unfortunatly by fairly mad people not in touch with the modern world's needs.

Osbert+

Middle East was a thousand years ahead of the rest of the world in almost every aspect. Mathematics, reading, and science were born there.

At this point we can trace the origin of our numerical system into India's ancient past, and it may be traced even beyond that.
www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk...
And this was not unique to the eastern hemisphere as the meso-americans also developed an accurate counting system.
Literacy and the concept of science also evolved differently in other parts of the world.

Back on topic:
I must agree with you that the middle-east far behind compared to much of the world minus africa. Despite the fact that they apply much of modern ware-fare their society and ideology is trapped in the past and I doubt it will ever be moving forward on its own without outside involvement.