Years ago I went on a solo trip through Egypt mainly to look at Pharonic antiquities. The Pharonic stuff was of course very interesting but while I was there (more by accident than by intent) I discovered Egypt's Arab history. The Egyptian's under the Mamaluke sultans produced some of the world's most beautiful architecture, i.e. the Madrassa/mosques's of Qaitbay, Barquq, etc. I should emphasize (before someone jumps in to correct me) that the Mamalukes were actually Slavic people from around the Ukraine/Southern Russia who were captured by slave traders and then shipped to Egypt. However despite their Slavic origins, the Mamaluke's culture was Arabic.

Anyway, I found the Arab thing so interesting that when I got back to university, I studied Arabic for a couple of years. My Arabic teacher was a Safardic jew who was born in Bagdad then moved to Israel and eventually ended up in the US. Her perspective on the world was extremely interesting. My classmates were a mixed bag of Arab-Americans (mainly of Lebanese and Egyptian descent), a couple of Safardic jews and some linguists. Oddly enough, the Safardic jews tended to have an unsympathetic attitude towards Israel (in Israel they're second class citizens after the Askanaszy or European jews). This struck me as rather ironic because from my ignorant perspective a Safardic jew would seem to be closer to the ancient jews than the Askanaszy who lost their original culture from living in Europe for generations.

Arabs are genuinely interesting. They inherited the Hellenistic Greek culture (while it disappeared in Europe) and kept it alive through the Middle Ages. The various ancient Greek classics were rotting on the shelves in the libraries of Constantinople but were saved by Arab scholars who transcribed them into Arabic. These priceless books came back to Europe through Islamic Spain. IMHO the Arabs would probably be the dominant culture today rather than our European/American culture if hadn't been for their damned religion. Please keep it mind that criticizing their religion is the best way to seriously piss off an Arab. However I think they really need to go through something like what the Europeans did with the Reformation in the 1500s (hopefully with less bloodshed). As it stands their religion is a millstone around their neck. The Arabs achieved greatness in the past despite their religion and not because of it.

Gary