Quote:From historical writings, I think it is more of a contrived religion based on Mohamed's desire to use his cult of personality to shape his society.Those historical writings are a bit outdated, and if they are of Christian origin not very impartial.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad
"The learned circles of Middle Ages Europe - primarily Latin-literate scholars - had fairly extensive, concrete biographical knowledge about the life of Mohammed, though they interpreted that information through a Christian religious lens that viewed Muhammad as a charlatan driven by ambition and eagerness for power, and who seduced the Saracens into his submission under a religious guise."
"It was not until the latter part of the 20th century that Western authors combined rigorous scholarship as understood in the modern West with empathy toward the subject at hand and, especially, awareness of the religious and spiritual realities involved in the study of the life of the founder of a major world religion. According to Watt and Richard Bell, recent writers have generally dismissed the idea that Muhammad deliberately deceived his followers, arguing that Muhammad 'was absolutely sincere and acted in complete good faith'."
And since you are so full of religion as a beneficial social structure, you might want to read the following.
"Historians generally agree that Islamic social reforms in areas such as social security, family structure, slavery and the rights of women and children improved on the status quo of Arab society. For example, according to Lewis, Islam 'from the first denounced aristocratic privilege, rejected hierarchy, and adopted a formula of the career open to the talents'. Muhammad's message transformed the society and moral order of life in the Arabian Peninsula through reorientation of society as regards to identity, world view, and the hierarchy of values. Economic reforms addressed the plight of the poor, which was becoming an issue in pre-Islamic Mecca. The Qur'an requires payment of an alms tax (zakat) for the benefit of the poor, and as Muhammad's position grew in power he demanded that those tribes who wanted to ally with him implement the zakat in particular."
Ofcourse, denouncing all prophets for which real historic material is available makes it a lot easier to stick to existing stories about older, and possibly imaginairy, prophets like Jesus;)
Edit: Did you know that...
... Islam considers Jesus a true Messenger of God, who will return to earth 'before the last Judgement'?
... Judaism has over a million prophets (although most are considered important for their own generation or community only), but denounces Jesus as a false one?