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Islamic invasions and the fate of the great cities of late antiquity and in this case the great city of Alexandria part 2

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in response to reader comment: Islam invasions and the fate of the great cities of late antiquity and in this case the great city of Alexandria!

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), May 19, 2020 at 09:21

Dr Pipes,

In the previous post I wrote:

>Haas in his book (see below) asks: "can we say that these new master (the Arabs) from the Hijaz significantly altered Alexandria urban evolution?"

He goes on to blame the shift of trade eastward for the decline of Alexandria. This could very well be true. However, Emmet Scott wrote: "the entire the Mediterranean world was utterly transformed in the 7th century. every where from Palestine in the east to Spain in the west the Roman style of life disappeared cities were destroyed or abandoned and life rapidly became more rural. the Roman system of agriculture which sustained the great cities of the classical age broke down".

The only thing that changed was the Arab invasions and the raids and piracy by the Arabs across the Mediterranean sea basin and targeting southern Europe. How could trade be conducted in such climate? And more reason to blame the Arab invasions for the decline of Alexandria and ushering the dark ages (Henri Pirenne)

Much more damaging to Alexandria was the exodus of Greeks as well as many Hellenized Egyptians to Greece following the Arab invasion of Egypt taking with them much of the best of those that made Alexandria such a great city with regard to the Greek learning. And by the 9th century Greek language was a dead language in Egypt. So even if you have the books of Greek learning, what would be the use if these books are not read anymore? And without the Greek language the city was not a power house anymore

Next? It was the assault of the Arab warlords in Egypt on the Egyptian language. Egyptians were forbidden from speaking their own language even a mother cannot speak to a child using the Egyptian language. The end result here was very significant because any language is a link to the past and an affirmation of the culture of the people. Egyptians could not read Manetho's history book about Egypt and its glorious past and had to depend on Arab historians that had no shame in pretending to know the history of Egypt. Here is an example mentioned by Emmet Scott about the Arab historian al-Mas'udi who wrote: "Surid ben Shaluk ben Termidum ben Tedresan ben Sal one of the kings of Egypt before the flood built two great pyramids ...."
Arab historians have no shame!

And more evidence that we should not trust the Arab/Muslim historians about what they tell us about not only their history but the history of others.

It was "Kuffar" the likes of Napoleon and his scholars that reconnected the Egyptian people with their history again.

And yes the language of Egypt was no longer a living language, thanks to the imperialism of the Arabs, after thousands of years being the spoken language of this great civilization.

More damage to Alexandria? It must have been the Jizya tax. al-Qurtubi tells us that the amount of this tax ranged between a dinar and sky was the limit.

In is shameful to absolve Islam and Muslim and the Arabs for the decline of this great city, Alexandria.

So much for the "opulence" of the Arabs and their imperialism

Next? The fate of the inhabitants of a small town in Upper Egypt and the Arab invasions

Submitting....

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Reader comments (15) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Siraj Wahhaj — runner-up slow talker of America [15 words]Peter RossMay 13, 2020 19:48258929
3Islam and Africans! [261 words]dhimmi no moreMay 13, 2020 14:37258925
6Islam and the invasion of India, Genocide, destruction of the past and imposing the culture of the Arabs where it did not belong [358 words]dhimmi no moreMay 15, 2020 08:21258925
1Wahhaj, the Amazigh and الفتوحات الاسلامية or the Islamic Openings (read it as invasions)! [653 words]dhimmi no moreMay 15, 2020 16:01258925
2Islam invasions and the fate of the great cities of late antiquity and in this case the great city of Alexandria! [638 words]dhimmi no moreMay 16, 2020 07:26258925
1Islamic invasions and the fate of the great cities of late antiquity and in this case the great city of Alexandria part 2 [549 words]dhimmi no moreMay 19, 2020 09:21258925
2Islamic invasions and the fate of the great cities of late antiquity and in this case the great city of Alexandria part [217 words]dhimmi no moreMay 19, 2020 15:56258925
3The Islamic raids on Italy and in this case Rome and the Vatican in 846 AD [241 words]dhimmi no moreMay 22, 2020 07:11258925
The Zanj Rebellion! And the "opulence" of Arabian imperialism [174 words]dhimmi no moreMay 23, 2020 07:20258925
The tragic death of a young Egyptian doctor from Covid-19 [88 words]dhimmi no moreMay 29, 2020 07:54258925
5#Obamagate [224 words]dhimmi no moreMay 29, 2020 09:52258925
3An "Egyptologist/Archaeologist or a promoter of terrorism? [133 words]dhimmi no moreJun 1, 2020 11:34258925
I have used sources I dislike [32 words]Jack F. SigmanMay 12, 2020 18:38258917
Wahhaj misses the point [53 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Benjamin BairdMay 12, 2020 16:44258916
5Islamic culture has devolved, and it's hard to categorize it [224 words]DaveMay 12, 2020 11:17258909

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