Cuts the kneecaps out of any mathematical advances

Can you please explain the expression "cuts the kneecaps out"?

He came along, he was an academic scholar, he interpreted the Quran he said:" This is how you must do it." First had social influence, and then political and cultural influence, and basically his interpretation took over. And in that interpretation, it included the perspective that the manipulation of numbers is the work of the devil. This cuts the kneecaps out of any mathematical advances that would unfold. Math is the language of the universe, if you take that out of your personal equation, you no longer contribute to the advance of human understanding of that universe.