I have just read again the life of Gutenberg, the inventor of printing (in the late 1400’s) with moveable type (as a printer this is a subject I have a great interest in.
These are some quotes….
“At Europe’s southern fringes the advance of the printing press stopped dead in its tracks, blocked by the world of Islam.”
“When the first Islamic printing press opened in Istanbul in 1729 by a civil servant who was a convert to Islam it was soon shut down.”
“The writer says that printing had no impact on the Muslim world for 400 years until the 19th Century when Muslims started printing tracts in response to their losing out to Christian missionaries and Hinduism.”
“The Islamic response to printing is part of a continuing and widespread distrust of the written word in conservative societies.”
Is it any wonder that Islamic communities as a whole have been able to remain so insulated and isolated from the rest of the world for so long.
(WRITTEN BY DAD!)
bacup
I doubt if that is true. The vast majority of Islamic art is calligraphy and dates back to before this time. Add to the fact that the Islamic empires of the past were very progressive of new technology makes it highly unlikely to me.