Did Islam have some kind of Renaissance-era?

[carpetbagger]

1. Yes.

Medieval Islam had extensive trade and cultural ties with the remnants of the Roman Empire, especially in the Eastern/Byzantine areas, as well as with India and the Steppe. The folk practices fused together in Spain/Andaluz and in Anatolia/Turkey, many of the seeds of the Christian Renaissance were planted during this time. There's a good BBC documentary "An Islamic History of Europe", it's on Youtube, and deals with some of this. It's great watching, and I came away really having hope for just how much we could actually learn and replicate from this.