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.
The Old Testament has many merits including historical veracity and accurate record keeping. The Koran has little to recommend it, unless you are interested in lurid cult propaganda, and the division of the world between the cult members [the good]; and everyone else [the evil]. There is no historical accuracy or rationality whatsoever in the Koran. From the Moslem supremacist document laced with racism, we learn that a day is 50.000 years, that Mary was the wife of Moses, that the sun sets in a marsh in the west, and that 1000 years after he died Abraham set down the Kabaa shrine in Mecca – a gift from the moon deity Hub'Allah. Apparently killing Jews and Chrisitans and owning 15 sex slaves in imitation of Muhammad, is fine as well.
Another Koranic lie is to substitute 'God' for 'Allah'. El-Lah, Al-Lah or i-Lah has nothing in common with the Judeo-Christian idea of a 'God'. Al-Lah is ilah or the 'one' referencing the one high 'Lord' [from the Babylonian 'sin'] within the pagan pantheon in Mecca. It is not 'God' but just a name as a symbol. Hub'Al was the high 'Lord' or ilah when Muhammad was born. Al-Lah would have referenced Hub'Al[lah] not 'God'. Perhaps to the pagan Meccans Hub'Allah was a 'God', but Hub'Al is of course derived from the Babylonian Baal and has no connection at all with earlier Midianite-Jewish theocracy around the idea of an anthropomorphic deity. Stating that ilah is 'God' is about as sensible as demanding that we recognize Zeus as Yahweh, or Chinghis Khan's Sky God as a part of the Christian Trinity. It is bunk.
If you read the Koran and an accurate translation you will soon discover that ilah is simply a name reference. It is not 'God', not in the Judeo-Christian definition [however granular and diverse] of that word. The Koran tells us directly that ilah is not God but simply a naming convention. In fact in correct translations of the Koran, the word for 'God' is not Allah but 'Ilahakum'.
i-lah as the 'one'”
3: 62 This is the true account: there is no God [Ilah] except Allah; and Allah He is indeed the Exalted in Power the Wise.
18:110 Say: "I am but a man like yourselves (but) the inspiration has come to me that your God [Ilahakum] is one God [Ilah]: whoever expects to meet his Lord [Rabbihi] let him work righteousness and in the worship of his Lord [Rabbihi] admit no one as partner"
Ilahakum as 'God'
21: 108 Say: "What has come to me by inspiration is that your Allah [Ilahakum] is One God [Ilah]: will ye therefore bow to His Will (in Islam) [Muslimona]?"
29:46 " And dispute ye not with the People of the Book except with means better (than mere disputation) unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong (and injury): but say "We believe in the Revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; Our Allah [Ilahuna/God] and your Allah[Ilahakum/God] is one; and it is to Him we(all of us) bow (in Islam)."
Muhammad and his early cult followers must have been perplexed indeed as to who the 'one' was. Was it Hub'Al[lah]? Maybe the 3 daughters of the 'one' or ilah which referenced Hub'Al? Perhaps the 'one' was Allat the Sun Goddess? In order to dispense with debate the politician Muhammad simply declared that the 'one' or Al-Lah was to be venerated. This was clever. By allowing the pagan Arabs to venerate 'their' Allah as the one true 'God' endless debate and much bloodshed was avoided. Over time the Al-Lah creation becomes the symbol and byword for any spiritual prayer to a higher deity or idol. It replaces all the pagan idols – smashed in 630 AD by Muhammad – with the veneration of an abstract 'one', a deity which is never explained or given definition by Muhammad or the Koran because there is no need to. The ilah is what you want it to be, the important point is that Muhammad runs the cult, Mecca is its center, and the Koran the only tool you will need in life to organize every aspect of your existence. The merger of church, state, and the individual into a cult communal. Every totalitarian's dream. But the base fact is this; Al-Lah has nothing in common with Jewish or Christian ideas about 'God'. It is simply a naming reference for a political theocratic object of worship, one based on the Babylonian moon deity Ba'Al[lah].