ThePoliticallyIncorrect Guideto Islam(and the Crusadesthere is no indicati on that any of this flowerin g actuall y came asaresult
of Islam itself. In fact, there is considerable evidence that it did not come
from Islam, but from the non-Muslims who served their Muslim masters
in various capacities.
The architectural design of mosques, for example, a source of pride
among Muslims, was copied from the shape and structure of Byzantine
Churches. (And of course, the construction of domes and arches was
developed over a thousand years before the advent of Islam.) The seventh-
century Dome of the Rock, considered today to have been the firstgreat
mosque, was not only copied from Byzantine models, hutwasbuiltby
Byzantine craftsmen. Islamic architectural innovations, interestingly
enough, arose from military necessity, A historian of Islamic art and
architecture, Oleg Grabar, explains,
"Whatever its social or personal function, there hardl y exist s a major
monume nt of Islami c archi tectu re that does not refle ct power in some
fashi on. .... Osten tation is rarel y absen t from arc hit ect ure and
ost ent ati onisalm ost alw ays an exp res sio n ofpower.... For instance, in
eleventh-century Cairo or fourteenth-century Granada the gates were built
with an unusual number of different techniqu es of vaul ting , Squi nches
coex ist with pende ntives , barr el vault s. with cross vaults, simple
semicircular arches with pointed or horseshoe-arches....lt is possible that
certain innovations in Islamic vaulting techniques, especially the elaboration
of squinches and cross vaults. were the
Ther e are plen ty of othe r exa mple s. The astr olab e was deve lope d, if
not perfected, long before Muhammad was born. Avicenna (980-1037),
Averrues (1128-1198) , andotherMuslim philosoph ers built on the work
of the pagan Creek Aristotle. And Christians preserved Aristotle's work
from the ravages of the Dark Ages such as the fifth-century priest Probusof
Antioch, who introduced Aristotletothe Arabic-speaking world." The