“The Brilliant Civilization of Islam”

“Our use of phrase ‘The Dark Ages’ to cover the period from 699 to 1,000 marks our undue concentration on Western Europe. . . .  From India to Spain, the brilliant civilization of Islam flourished.  What was lost to Christendom at this time was not lost to civilization, but quite the contrary. . . .  To us it seems that West-European civilization is civilization, but this is a narrow view.”

Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy (London, 1948), 419