The Enlightenment.

 Across Britain and continental Europe from the beginning of the 16th century there was what, can only be describe as an - intellectual revolution in thought and the empirical scientific method.There was a departure from the hitherto accepted assumptions underpinning the natural world. People like Nicolaus Copernicus (1473/1543); Thomas Hobbes (1588/1679) and Rene Descartes (1596/1650) indicated that these assumptions must be challenged and tested empirically. This revolution had a transformative impact on the world as we observe it. From then on the - world was turned upside down. This was the touchstone known as the Enlightenment and it spread to the furthest point on the continent. However it stopped there - why didn't the Muslim world carry the torch forward as they have a strong and deep intellectually history? We live today with that failure. Some religious beliefs are accepted as absolute and immutable. There can be no discussion, we must accept this as the truth and not question it. This is in stark contrast to the Enlightenment and scientific empirically method, where everywhere must be tested remorselessly. How tragic the torch was dropped and not carried forward by the Muslim world - and we all suffer today as a consequence.