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[metalman]

Originally Posted by Karlos

The Iberian peninsula didn't do too badly under the Umayyads...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus

Umayyad caliphs were notorious among their Muslim subjects as being deficient in proper religious attitudes. The most reprehensible, from the Muslim point of view was Caliph Walid II who “is said to have stuck the Koran onto a lance and shot it to pieces with arrows”. It is, therefore, no surprise that Walid irritated the ulama by showing an interest in un-Islamic ideas while leading a merry existence. “An intensively cultivated man, he surrounded himself with poets, dancing girls, and musicians, and lived the merry life of the libertine, with no interest in religion.

[persia]