When The Moors ruled in Europe

[Speelgoedmannetje]

AFAIK, the advanced culture in the middle east of the past could exist because those lands were back then much more fertile, far less desert-ish.
And when we look at medieval times in Europe, there were much famines, and thus, much more civil unrest.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Karlos wrote:

But what happened? Look at these countries today, which once held such great cultures... isn't it often because of that in countries ruled by islamic laws, freedom of speech and criticism is heavily reduced, thus halting development and creativity...

Fundamentalism. Islam's golden age was destroyed by several centuries of conflict that began pretty much with Pope Urban II's decision to wage a pogrom against the heathen muslims that had spread across the holy land, eg: "God Wills It!" (tm)

From what I've read in history books, the crusades has had hardly any effect in the muslem world. At the time the west could inflict damage to the muslem world, it lost it's interest. Long has existed a little country Jerusalem and has been overlooked by the muslem world. They could have crushed it with ease, and with hardly any political consequences.
Colonization of the lands did have much more consequences, I think. Though the conservative, repressive interpretation of Islam began, AFAIK, in the 50s.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Karlos wrote:

From what I've read in history books, the crusades has had hardly any effect in the muslem world.

I know history is written by the victors, but I'm surprised by that conclusion. If said historians honestly believe that simultaneously getting their arse kicked by Christendom from the West and the Mongols from the East (many of whom later converted but not before extensive damage to eastern territories) had "little effect" on the rise of fundamentalist views and the subsequent decline of free thinking in the Islamic world, then their reasoning utterly escapes me.

It's not their conclusion, it's my conclusion.
The crusades were terribly bad organized. Especially in the beginning, it were just a horde of farmers who were being slaughtered or being enslaved.
Later expeditions were more successful, but to maintain influence in that area was too expensive and dangerous. (maintaining an army in a land far away while being at war with a couple of neighbours is not exactly the most ideal situation).
No, the impact of the crusades have been highly exaggerated in my eyes. The impact of the Monguls however is something I still have to learn about.
Still, the Ottoman empire was really something to reckon with, until the 20th century.