The Wikipedia page doesn't seem to support the thesis. One can plausibly argue for quite the contrary, IMHO. In fact, many outstanding scholars in STEM of that era, including a few names in the cited Wikipedia page, were also religious scholars (jurisprudence, theology, hadith etc.). Arabs were so much lost before the advent of Islam that the neighboring Persians and Romans apparently had little to no interest in them. History is more complicated/nuanced of course, but these are important points.