The aggressiveness of the Arabs forced .
western Europeans to rely on their own resources and to develop their own .
heritage and culture. .
By diverting the focus and energy's of the Byzantine Empire, the Arabs .
prevented it from expanding into Western Europe allowing the Franks and the .
Lombargs to gain power. And by controlling their Mediterranean Western access .
to eastern trade and cultural influence was diminished. There was also a lot of .
creative interchange between these two cultures. The Arab civilization taught .
western farmers irrigation, the tanning of leather, refinition of silk and educated .
their scholars. Down to the 16th century the basic gynecological and childcare .
manuals were compilations of the famous Iranian Islamic scholars physician and .
philosophers like Razi, Kharazmi and Ibm-Sina were still utilized. These scholars .
made some of the greatest discoveries. For example Kharazmi discovered the .
significance of alcohol in medications. ( Cargill, Menzont, Interaction of civ. Pp .
561) .
Relations between the two during those times were not always .
antagonistic. In 802 Charlemagne received, from the caliph, Harun-al-Rashid, a .
white elephant. In truth the Christians made not only a great amount of wealth of .
their contacts with the Arabs with a whole deal of knowledge which led to their .
ascendancy of power during the Renaissance years. Civilization in Western .
Europe gained much more than it could have ever before. .
Another fact about the Islamic civilization was that they were quite a .
tolerant and practical race. Their tolerance of certain religions like the Jews .
provided more distaste between the Christians and themselves. This was an .
antagonism between the two until recently when the Arabs revolted against the .
new state of Israel. ( Jacobs, Fisher, Einzholdt, Islamic Heritage, Pp 192) .
There were times when Islamic culture actually managed to influence not .
only the culture but the religion of the Christians as well.