One of those blocks (that prevent the 'Middle East from entering the mainstream of modernity') is the orthodox tenet that the Koran and the scriptures contain all the knowledge required to deal with the problems of contemporary society.
Arnold BeichmanA personal story of the horrors that Poles lived through during World War II. When God Looked the Other Way, above all else, explains why there is still a Poland. . . . One of the most remarkable World War II sagas I have ever read. It is history with a human face.
Arnold Beichman