Jeff_N asked:
Back then, it was the cradle of civilization, a center of comerce, trade, philosophy(along with greece). The first codes of law were written here. Many advances in medicine, astronomy, mathematics and many other sciences were made during the middle ages. Islam had nothing to do with these. If it did, they would be as lousy as medieval Europeans. The same thing were done in china and india, though maybe at an earlier time, but much of these developments were independent from china and india.
So, why is the middle east all crappy now? The mongols did end the abbadsid dynasty, a rich period of for everything, though i doubt thats all to it.