The 'dark ages' weren't even the dark ages in Europe. The idea was invented by guys in the Renaissance who pined for the Greco-Roman world and pretended everything since then was a slide downhill. Anyone who seriously trots out this trope as 'proof' of anything should be taken about as seriously as a flat-earther.

> The idea that humanity somehow went back is a fantasy pushed forward by catholic commentators.

A tangential aside: Wouldn't that make the catholics look bad and as such why would they spread it? ("We had all this great tech before the catholic/christians came along and ruined everything and now we don't have nice things" seems like another way to look at it)

> "We had all this great tech before the catholic/christians came along and ruined everything and now we don't have nice things" seems like another way to look at it

The way it was framed (and often still is with a dash of 19th century nationalism added) is:

The unwashed barbarian from the east came pouring tearing apart the beautiful christian roman empire before one of their chief saw the light and converted. Guided by faith, the franks unified once again the warring provinces which sadly were broken apart again through inheritences - but such is the law - before their god annointed kings heroically pushed away the unfaithful from the south. The properous Italian cities, whose families gave us more Pope than any others, rediscovered the brightness of the Antiquity especially the best of them, Aristotle, who turns out to be the easiest to reframe in a way compatible with catholicism, propelling the world into the Age of Enlightnment which had to be spread out to the furthest shores.

Because through racist-enough eyes, Arabic discoveries or knowledge don't exist until they are whitewashed. That's the whole pretense, that there was some Dark Age that did something to the whole world. For values of "whole" meaning "the parts we care about".