Islamic Printing Press?

[Grimm Reaper]

Abdul, where did I state that Islamic society was inferior?

Let's not get insulting here. The printing press and associated literacy was key to the rise of Western Europe, and success of the printing press there and not elsewhere can not be presented as some kind of slur.

It also did not succeed in China, which first developed it, nor in India, where the idea(if not actual prototypes) must surely have passed through. It did not succeed in the Islamic nations(Ottomans were the preeminant Muslim society, not the only one). For that matter, it was more successful in the Protestant societies than the Catholic ones.

Is it that peculiarities of Protestant sects encouraged a higher degree of literacy and a major increase in the printing industry(as it were), which led to other developments?

Or does it simply imply hostility to all Muslims, Hindus, Chinese and Catholics?

 

[Cloudy Vortex]

Some civs win today and lose tomorrow. Others lose today and win a week from next thursday. Abd, Faeelin, I don't pretend to understand Muslims, but, if I were a poor but good Muslim in XVIth century Damashq, wouldn't I want my own Qur'an to read to comfort me and keep me close to Allah (it's not like I can go out to a nearby bar and drown my sorrows)? Printing will increase literacy and make Qur'ans affordable to the lower classes. Or is all this an Evangelical thing?

 

[Leo Caesius]

Some civs win today and lose tomorrow. Others lose today and win a week from next thursday. Abd, Faeelin, I don't pretend to understand Muslims, but, if I were a poor but good Muslim in XVIth century Damashq, wouldn't I want my own Qur'an to read to comfort me and keep me close to Allah? (it's not like I can go out to a nearby bar and drown my sorrows)

I'm fairly certain that there were taverns in 16th century Damascus. They may not have been run by Muslims, but you can bet that they had Muslim clientele. If wine was not your style, then there was always hashish, which is most certainly acceptable under Islamic law if not consumed to excess.

As for the Qur'an, Muslims don't "read" the Qur'an like Protestant Christians read the Bible. If they're particularly pious they'll memorize parts of it or even the whole thing and recite it like poetry (it is essentially a book of poetry, after all). But rarely do they comprehend what they're reciting even after they've memorized the whole thing.

 

[Abdul Hadi Pasha]

I didn't. I said you were repeating the standard line of those who did. It's a 19th c invention that's not true. Printing presses operated in the Ottoman Empire from the earliest period. As I said, the first opened in the 1490s.

Abdul, where did I state that Islamic society was inferior?

 

[Abdul Hadi Pasha]

I'm fairly certain that there were taverns in 16th century Damascus. They may not have been run by Muslims, but you can bet that they had Muslim clientele. If wine was not your style, then there was always hashish, which is most certainly acceptable under Islamic law if not consumed to excess.

As for the Qur'an, Muslims don't "read" the Qur'an like Protestant Christians read the Bible. If they're particularly pious they'll memorize parts of it or even the whole thing and recite it like poetry (it is essentially a book of poetry, after all). But rarely do they comprehend what they're reciting even after they've memorized the whole thing.

Especially the ones that don't speak Arabic.

In addition to Hashish there was also opium, really strong tobacco, and plenty of metal-etching coffee, if you prefer the other side.

 

[Cloudy Vortex]

OK, this is how you learn. People don't intend to take autocentric positions out of egotism[1], but how can anyone see the world except from where the are? That is the importance of these kinds of communication. We have men and maybe women[2] from all over the, well, at least First World and more affluent parts of the Third and from many, if not all, walks of life.

It's more interaction than I usually get with others.

1. Well, not always
2. Are any of us women?

 

[Abdul Hadi Pasha]

OK, this is how you learn. People don't intend to take autocentric positions out of egotism[1], but how can anyone see the world except from where the are? That is the importance of these kinds of communication. We have men and maybe women[2] from all over the, well, at least First World and more affluent parts of the Third and from many, if not all, walks of life.

It's more interaction than I usually get with others.

1. Well, not always
2. Are any of us women?

There are six women, as far as I know.

 

[Nicksplace27]

Go take a look at a hand written copy of the Koran and tell me a 15th c printing press could give you anything approaching it. Arabic calligraphy is pretty amazing. For instance, this tughra or monogram of the Sultan says "The Ever Victorious Mahmud Khan, son of Abdul Hamid"

Islamic Writing is amazing and very beautiful. And a lot of catholic works were made by muslims weavers. Too bad the moderate ottomans were overthrown.