In the second Part of this two-part series we look at the reasons for the large differences in intellectual curiosity between the European and Muslim civilization.

Literature:
Al-Ghazali, A. H. (2000). The Incoherence of the Philosophers. Provo: Brigham Young University Press.
Fakhry, M. (2009). Islamic Philosophy: A Beginner's Guide. Kindle Books, Amazon Digital Services.
Grant, E. (2011). The Foundation of Modern Science in the Middle Ages. Their Religious, Institutional and Intellectual Contexts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hannam, J. (2009). God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science. London: Icon Books.
Huff, T. E. (2017). The Rise of Early Modern Science. Islam, China and the West. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lindberg, D. C. (2007). The Beginnings of Western Science. The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450. Second Edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Martin, R. C., Woodward, M. & Atmaja, D. S. (1997). Defenders of Reason in Islam: Mu'tazililism from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. London: OneWorld Publications. Kindle Edition.
Watt, W. M. (1994). Islamic creeds. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Weinberg, S. (2016). To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science. New York: Harper Perennial.

One important event in humanity's progress was the birth of modern science and technology. This happened in the West, in particular in Europe, and nowhere else, mainly during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The main thesis of this two part video series is that, by the seventeenth century, only Europe maintained the intellectual curiosity about the world, which was necessary to trigger the scientific revolution.
We’ll compare Europe to the Muslim world. To exemplify the differences between these two cultures, we’ll show in the first Part how differently they reacted to the invention of the telescope beginning of the seventeenth century.
These differences were striking, and in the second Part we’ll try to identify the reasons for them. There are political implications of these differences between these two cultures, and we’ll point them out, too.

Literature:
Huff, T. E. (2011). Intellectual Curiosity and the Scientific Revolution. A Global Perspective. Third Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The importance of the battle at Tours in 732 A.D. is nowadays downplayed by many historians. According to them, Abdul Rahman's invasion wasn't really dangerous for Europe: either because it was merely an unimportant episode during the wars of European nobles against each other, or because it was only a "raid" - a temporary incursion - , or because Muslim expansion had already "lost its momentum" by the time of Tours, anyway. This video describes the battle and counters these views downplaying the battle's significance.