What's right with Islam

My goal here is not to do a detailed theological critique of Islam, but-in five sets of five propositions each-to look quickly at the cultural and political implications of the worldview that arises from Islam. I'll start by noting five positives concerning Islam, because it's good when approaching any religion to see its strengths as well as its weaknesses.

Islam moved Arabs and many other people from polytheism, often accompanied by grotesque practices, to monotheism. Muslims believe in one god, all-powerful and ever-present, uncreated, without beginning or end, completely sufficient to himself and ordaining everything that occurs.

Islam is strongly creationist, arguing both from the Quran but also from intelligent design within nature. Once, when a Bedouin was asked what made him believe in Allah, he pointed to marks in the sand, which made it clear to him that a camel had gone by, even though he had not seen the camel. He then pointed to the mountains and said that it was equally clear that Allah had made them, although he did not witness that either. So Muslims say that the beauty and order of the universe, as well as the integration and complexity of a single cell, show that there is an intelligence behind it. They say that such complexity could not be the product merely of time plus chance.