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.
F.E. Peters states the following about the Islamic moon cult and its obligatory rite of pilgrimage:
“The Hajj [an obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca] was in the month of Dhu-al-Hijja. People went out with their goods and they ended up in Ukaz on the day of the new moon of Dhu-al-Qa'da. They stayed there 20 nights during which they set up in Ukaz their market of all colors and all goods in small houses.....After 20 days they leave for Majanna, and they spend ten days in its market, and when they see the new moon of Dhu-al-Hijja they leave for Dhu-al-Majaz, where the spend eight days and nights in its market.....” [p. 34, Peters, The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places]
The Hajj was already many centuries old by the time Muhammad became the principal-thug-inter-pares, and the origins of the pilgrimage have to do with the new moons and the calendar of commerce [the crescent moon or beginning of the month]; and trading goods in various markets. The Islamic obligation or 'pillar' of Hajj is quite pagan indeed. The Moslem cult simply directed the commercial benefits of the Hajj to Mecca, and to Mecca alone. It can thus be viewed as a tax.
Long before Islam was established a poli-fascism, dressed in the disguise of pagan Arab pantheism, the moon was worshiped as the main 'god' and it informed many rituals and rites.
“When the month of Ramadan began people of the Quraysh [Muhammad's tribe]...used to leave for Hira [outside of Mecca] and stayed there a month and fed the poor who called upon them. When they saw the moon of Shawwal they (descended and) did not enter their homes until they had performed the circumambulation of the Ka'ba for a week. The Prophet used to perform it.: [ibid, p. 40]
Moslems today still walk around the Ka'ba shrine 7 times and must kiss at least once in their lifetime, the black asteroid rock which represents Hub'Al the moon idol of the Ka'ba. Gone from the shrine are the 359 other idols, smashed by Muhammad. Alone remains the Allah, a vestige of Hub'Al worship.
“..the Quran also reveals, as we have seen, that the worship of Allah was well established before Muhammad.....Some verses of the Quran openly concede the existence of such gods [or partners of Allah] simply pointing to the fact that they are Allah's creatures [25:3] and that, rather than being Allah's partners, they are his servants:
'Do they attribute as partners to Allah those who created nothing but they themselves are created? No help can they give them, nor can they help themselves. And if you call them to guidance, they follow you not. It is the same for you whether you call them or you keep silent. Verily, those whom you call upon besides Allah are slaves like you. So call upon them and let them answer you if you are truthful. Have they feet wherewith they walk? Or have they hands wherewith they hold? Or have they eyes wherewith they see? Or have they ears wherewith they hear? Say (O Muhammad SAW): "Call your (so-called) partners (of Allah) and then plot against me, and give me no respite! [7:191-195]'” [ibid, p. 29]
Only Allah has power. Every human and every creature is just a slave of this omnipotent universal force.
This sentiment is reinforced in 25:3 which states; “Yet they have taken besides Him other aliha (gods) that created nothing but are themselves created, and possess neither hurt nor benefit for themselves, and possess no power (of causing) death, nor (of giving) life, nor of raising the dead.”
Christians, Jews, or pagans are thus not only wrong in their persistent worship of Allah's associates, but as the Koran makes quite clear, they are evil for not worshiping Allah alone. Any 'partner', or associate which is worshiped along with Allah or Hub'Al the moon idol, begets a capital crime within Islamic theology, punishable by death.