I think you may find that most Western progress began from the advanced civilisations which flourished during the Golden Age of Islam. The Enlightenment period came in many respects from the observation of Islamic societies and their establishment of universities etc.
I would not go mentioning anything like that on Hot Copper if I were you. Go to the political threads and you will get the general view of what people think of Islam. You may get lynched and be stoned to death.
Go and see where I posted that Jews were not discriminated against when the Muslims were in control of Spain and what happened to them after the Catholics took over. Look at the replies I got.
But coming back to your post, during the Golden Age of Islam, I don't think it was the religion pushing the reforms, it was enlighten leaders.
