But how can they lay claim to any of that since Islam wasn’t “invented” until AD600 or thereabouts?
(More like about AD 635)
Only because Mohammed said so. That's it.
Another oddity is the relates to the artistic nature of the written Arabic. Orthodox Islam teaches that one cannot possibly understand or even read the Koran (as it's the holy language which God dictated (not inspired, like the Bible) to Mohammed himself)--UNLESS you read it in the original Arabic. Observant Muslims therefore MUST learn Arabic...
This allows Muslim scholars to dismiss most Western critics of Islam--as supposedly misunderstanding, or mistranslating any given Koranic verse. It's actually forbidden for Muslims to read translations...
That would be like expecting ALL Christians to learn Greek--otherwise we could not read the New Testament... Think how stultifying that would be...(and how Greek civilization would therefore become religiously--and culturally-- imperialistic...)This is a reason why Arab culture is so dominant in Islam, as to them God only speaks Arabic (and if you don't...who are you to tell them about God?)
And of course...the most notorious doctrine--agreed on by all four major schools of Islamic law--is that any Muslim (and all you have to do to BE a Muslim is to be born of a Muslim father (see Obama...)) who apostates--stops believing Islam (by becoming a Christian...or Hindu...or atheist...)--SHOULD BE EXECUTED. That's right--even so called moderate Muslims accept this, as it's plainly stated in the Koran--and all varieties of Muslims accept it as dogma.
It's really a very (very) irrational religion, on a very basic level.
One can be a moderate Muslim....but only by being moderately (not fully) Muslim, as there is no real "moderate" Islam.