Labienus

I am not sure which was greater but I am more fond of the Italian Renaissance, mainly for cultural reasons.

Guaporense

As advgd has righly noted, there is no corresponding comparison between the two as they have very different lenghts of time.

The Renaissance had greater significance on the overall dynamics of world history, as it signals the beginning of the process of European global influence and the conversion of the rest planet into it's backyard.

The Islamic golden age from 750 CE to 1250 CE lasted until the Islamic world started to stagnate economically while the western european world continued to develop. It was the time when the middle east held the edge agaisnt the western world, by the mid 13th century western europe had become the leading part of western eurasia and it's leadership would only be intensified.

Shasta

I vote neither. The Faylasufs (Arab philosophes) were instrumental in saying we needed to arrive to God through reason and analysis. Indeed, the Qur'an has a quote about how God put signs on the earth and in the sky in order for humans to learn about God's creation and benevolence. They were influenced by Aristotelian thinking, but many refused the Prime Mover image of God. Ar-Razi in particular was an atheist in the modern sense--he believed that the idea of God was incompatible with reason. He wrote books on how revelation from God and prophets were lies, and the creation of the universe and God's supposed actions suggest the static God isn't really God. What would probably be surprising to some people's preconceived notions is that ar-Razi was never killed for his denunciation of religion and idea that reason was far superior--he died of natural causes.

Of course, this has parallels with the Enlightenment, and the ideas of some Faylasufs on the nature of God would probably be regarded as Deist by modern people.

ISIS | Center for Inquiry

The Renaissance, of course, was important for it's acceptance and fascination of the human body in art. A lot of people associated a clean and naked body as near to the devil. Renaissance art displayed small smiles and lifelike eyes, but much previous art had major figures display an aloof look.

I know it sounds stupid for me to talk about art and smiles, but I believe it shows a greater optimism and hope for a better future, that we can improve society. That is the basis for democracy.

clement

Mutazilism was a very important muslim school during the golden age. It put the emphasis on natural theology : reason and the understanding of the world was a better way to know and understand God than the study of the scriptures. This produced a lot of freethinkers (including atheists but they were very few. Most remained devout muslims). But more orthodox muslims (sunnis) reacted and the ultimately prevailed.

On the other hand, in Europe, natural theology won, with St Thomas Aquinas and the scholastics first, then the rationalists like Descartes etc. An extreme form of natural theology would lead to the deism of the enlightenment. This is also why the islamic golden age ended. On the other hand, in the christian world, people thought that to study the universe and the world was the best way to understand God. They had inherited this from muslim thinkers (though not exclusively, the ancient philosophers also did play an important role) but they went much further.

Mohammed the Persian

Don't forget the medical and scientific discoveries we did

clement

Well, most Islamic intellectuals were not scientists or specialists but polymaths, which means they were at the same time philosophers, scientists, theologians etc.

Paladin

I chose the Renaissance but the Muslims brought a lot of progress to the world.

olly

I was under the impression that knowledge gained by islam was taken from the Greeks and other advanced civilizations ?

Mohammed the Persian

Saying that Muslims stole ideas ?

We discovered them, didn't we ?

clement

Stole, no. Use them yes. The muslims did many things on their own, by analysing and improving raw materials that were provided by ancient thinkers. This is how things work generally : the knowledge of one civilization then goes to another one, who develop his own culture, philosophy, sciences etc. upon this, then this again goes to another civilization that will develop its own theories etc. There is no "stealing", some knowledge belong (or should belong) to mankind as a whole.