Teeta

Hello , this is my first post here...

So which is THE most successful civilization throughout human history?

Three giant contestants that come to mind are :

Western Civilization.
Islamic Civilization.
Chinese Civilization.

Now if you break it down...Islamic Civilization and Western Civilization comes up to the top. There are thousands of religions/cultures/civilizations etc but only two of them are considered as "global" civilizations. These are ;

1-Western-Christian civilization.

2-Middle-Eastern-Islamic Civilization

So out of these two...which one is most successful historically (not today.)?

I'll go with Islam..As a student of civilization history , I understand that Muslims enjoyed THE BEST success ratio among ALL civilizations. Out of 1400 years of Islam , Muslims remained dominant global force , in one form or the other , for stunning 1100+ years!! That is ---Islamic Civilization remained on top for 71% of its entire history!!!! No other civilization even comes close to this success ratio...After 18th century however , Muslims failed to industrialized and West took over...From past 300 years or so , this massive civilization encompassing 25% of entire humanity is in 'decline' ...but as I see it ....Muslims are now coming back! Though it will take some time obviously , but the process is starting slowly and slowly.From Arab spring to fighting Taliban in Afghanistan...From Western Muslim scholars to progressive Islamic Scholars in Pakistan...Muslims are trying to reform themselves for better. Islamic Faith , for good or worse, is such that in nature that it doesn't like "being second" ... This ALWAYS drive Muslims to try for the top... Islamic Ideology carries a sense of 'superiority' in itself. It believes that it is superior to all others.

So what are your guys views?

Teeta

Bump......

AlpinLuke

Well, I think there are already other threads regarding this matter, if I remember well.

Anyway, probably the definition of "Western Civilization" is a bit misleading. Anglo-Saxon civilization is different from Mediterranean civilization. Catholic world is not Protestant world. Russian subcontinent has been quite a different thing with relation to the rest of the "West" .... and so on ....

Not to mention that this "Western Civilization" has been divided for almost all its history fighting a very large number of wars [included two world wars!].

So, in my opinion to say "Western Civilization" is equivalent to say "Asian Civilization", a definition which would include China, India and Islam [at least as for its origin] ....

BrowniesRule

My view is that I had a better level of analysis of what you call ''Islamic Civilization'' and ''Muslims'' when I was a simple cell.

With all due respect, what do you know about Muslims? If you take your eyes off Civilization 5 for a minute maybe you'll realize that the sense of superiority is embedded in all cultures around the globe. ''Muslims'', as you call them, are not a homogeneous group composed of individuals who all collectively plot to ''make it to the top''. What you also call ''Islamic Civilization'' is a mental construct, and the only way you could back up its existence is by quoting old 18-19th books written by european travellers ABOUT Muslims. News flash, ''Islamic Civilization'' was built in reaction to scholars who themselves thought of ''Western Civilization''.

Moral of the story; go read a book or two.

Gudenrath

To characterise "civilizations" in that way as Western Civilization, Islamic Civilization, Chinese Civilization etc is a recipe for disastrous generalisation.

Because that means inventing some defining characteristics of such arbitrary "civilizations", based on so many different countries, peoples, religions and such a long history that what you choose probably tells more about the person choosing them than of that particular "civilization".

Inspector Cyril Blake

J.M.Roberts discussed this very subject in his book and television series "Triumph of the West" - bit populist but interesting, and at the time it was difficult to disagree with his premise that Western civilisation (however you define that) and specifically European and more specifically Anglo-Saxon, had had and was still having an irreversible impact on the world. Although these days you'd look at China and say "still sure about that, JM?"

Gorge123

Indian Civilization, Chinese Civilization, Greek Civilization, Minoans, lots of others that were quite sucessful.

Lucius

Californian Civilization?

Gorge123

whats that?

bartieboy

What makes you think there were Muslim countries of any importance in the late 19th century?
Are muslim nations a dominant force now in this century?
Well they have a bit of power because of their oil but thats about it...