Arabs HAD a high culture at one point - and yes, they preserved Greek mathematics while Europe slid into Dark Ages. And I can point exactly when that high culture ended - 1449, when Ulug-Beg, probably the most educated and enlightened ruler of his time, was murdered by the "mad mullahs" all but identical to the rabid Islamists of today.

They succeeded in dragging Arab culture back into theocratic feudalism just about when Europe got out of the same.