Why were the Muslim countries more advanced than Christian Europe during the Middle ages?

 

·         Charlemagne inherited the poorest part of the Roman Empire (Gaule) + Germany over the Rhine which was never even part of the Roman Empire. On the other hand, the Abbassids inherited the richest part of the Byzantine Empire (Egypt) + the entirety of the Sassanid Empire.

·         The Abassid Empire was ten times bigger than the Carolingian one.

·         The Abassid Empire inherited all the hellenistic cultural heritage with Beyt al-Hikma in Baghdad translating via Aramaic all the rich knowledge of the Ancients Hellenistics and Greeks (philosophy, musical theory, alchemy, astronomy/ astrology, etc) + the Indian knowledge (mathematics, chess, Arabic numerals, etc). On the other hand, the Carolingian Empire had its territory far from the cultural hub which was the Eastern Mediterranean. Because of being part of Western Christianity, this isolated the Carolingian Empire from the culturally rich Eastern Christian Byzantine Empire (not in good relationship with Western Christianity since long before the formal Schism) and Muslim World. Al-Andalus was even further than the Carolingians from the Byzantines and the Abbassids, but because they were Muslims, this built a cultural tie to Baghdad and Damascus. Religion plays the essential role in circulation of knowledge back in the Middle Ages.