Until the advent of materialism and 19th c. dogma, Western Civilisation was superior to anything Islam had developed. Islam has not aided in the development of the modern world; in fact civilisation has only been created in spite of Islam. Proof of this resides in the 'modern' world and the unending political-economic and spiritual poverty of Muslim states and regions. Squatting on richer civilisations is not 'progress'. Islam is pagan, totalitarian, and irrational.
“Evidence gathered from both North and South Arabia demonstrate that moon-god worship was clearly active even in Muhammad's day and was still the dominant cult.”
Gardner is entirely correct. The super-powers of the ancient Near Eastern world were until the the rise of Persia [550BC], and the hegemony of Greco-Roman imperialism; mainly those empires within the Mesopotamian river systems, and Egypt. Some exceptions such as the Hebrew Semitic empire of David, and the Hittites before them [circa 1300 B.C.], were in some part influenced chiefly by Mesopotamian theology and pantheism.
In particular the Sin god, or the moon god of Babylon, carried forward by conquering Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian armies over a period of two thousand years; and propagated by captive populations including the Hebrews to distant lands including Arabia; was of exceptional importance.
“According to numerous inscriptions while the name of the moon-god was 'Sin', his title was al-ilah, 'the deity', meaning that he was the chief or high god amongst the gods.”
Mount Sinai is simply the Mount of the Moon good. Sin was represented in Mesopotamia and beyond by a golden calf. This symbol of paganism was anathema to the monotheism of the 'fatherly' figure-deity of Abraham and Moses; who contracted with the Hebrews a code of law outlining rules for living.
Monotheism did not exist in Arabia until the Jews and Christians, fleeing the annihilation of Jerusalem and the purging of 'rebels' in Judea by the Romans post 70 A.D., brought such concepts with them. Embedded within long-range diaspora and trade networks, the Jews and Christians prospered in Arabia, while the Bedouins remained mired in ignorance, poverty and brigandage. It must have appeared to Muhammad and his contemporaries circa 600 A.D., that the god of the Semitics must indeed be powerful, and the organizing principles of life around monotheistic values, a benefice. To rise out of uncivilized existence, Arabian paganism needed to be effaced. A singular god exalted.
“Al-ilah was contracted to Allah. Allah's wife was the sun goddess and they had 3 daughters, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat. These 3 daughters are those of the Satanic verses fame whose intercession was asked for (53:19, 20). Muhammad desiring to make peace with his tribe at a time of weakness made this concession to their polytheistic beliefs. When stronger he abrogated this concession and changed his word.” [Gardner, p. 462]
[note; Al-Lat might be the sun-goddess and partner of Allah, not his daughter]
Islam is a mish-mash of pagan polytheism and pagan compromise. Al-Lah is the moon deity named in Mecca Hub'Al. Some argue that Allah is above the moon god. But there is precious little to support this. Moon god veneration was a key cultural artifact of pagan Mecca, and Hub'Al was of course the family deity of Muhammad, and they were the caretakers of his shrine. Hub'Al or the moon deity was the main god, the 'Lord' or ilah of the rest of the pantheon. His daugthers were intercessors, who could intervene on an Arab's behalf, and grant favours to those who rituals and practices pleased the moon deity.
Islam does not allow for intercession. Allah has no partners. He or it, stands alone. Anyone who ascribes a partner to Allah is destined for Hell. Christians are always linked to Satan in the Koran, because they join to 'god', Christ the son; and the Holy Spirit. Polytheists are to be killed, tortured and not tolerated within Islamic liturgy.
When Muhammad invaded Mecca at the head of a 10.000 man army, he wiped out all of the idols except that of Hub'Al the Allah. Originally the pagan Arabs could worship Allah's daughters as long as they acknowledged the suzerainty of the Allah. This political compromise was quickly effaced and changed, as Moslem arms grew ever stronger, and Moslem attitudes ever more intolerant. The Koran and Islamic liturgy erased the worship of Allah's wife and daughters and subsumed them into the cult of Muhammad and Allah; where only Muhammad words and actions should be followed; as referenced in the jumbled nonsense of the Koran; and the explanatory details offered in the Hadiths and the Sira.