Well if I do not accept the Quran as a reliable source and you do not accept Historical and Philosophical books as a reliable source we are on a dead lock...
If you want historical references I can give u a few, the problem with me is that I read from paper books... Which after I read them I store them in my warehouse at Greece. So referring you to the exact books means that I will need to return to Greece, go to the warehouse and find the books. (By the way right now I live in Italy).
Anyhow, about historical books related with our discussion:
I would suggest you to first start from a Historical book about Salah ad-Din. From my personal point of view one of the best Muslim leaders to start your historical studies.
Try to study both the events and his personal education.
Now after you get a grasp of Salah ad-Din, I suggest you get to read a book about the Arab Sultanates and all the small empires that where founded in the period of: ~600-1200. Before the Ottoman Empire.
For those I have read one book (which as I mentioned is somewhere lost in my warehouse) but if you study you will see all of them have 1 common thing. And that is specifically the control of a collection of books that moves from one library to another. (If I remember well the Arabs refer to it as the House of Wisdom)
Now, it can be a coincidence or it can be not...
Around 650AD, Muslims take control of Alexandria. Around 700AD The House of Wisdom appears...
From the beginning of the Muslim world there is a myth about a two horned man (Dhul-Qarnayn I googled that because I didnt remembered it).
Have you visited any Arab country? You will find his Statue and Image in almost all of them (At least I found it in the two I have visited).
In brief, like in Christianity similarly in Islam the mass is kept brainwashed and uneducated but the few leaders have access to 'The House of Wisdom' or to refer it with the real name: The remnants of Alexandria's Library.
The access to the ancient worlds knowledge (especially math and philosophy) is enough to elevate nations to Empires!
And we have to thank a few floods, fires and two Religions for the loss of the Library...
From Civilization to the Dark Ages to later again Enlightenment...
2 Religions brought the human kind at least 500 years behind in technological and scientific advancement and you speak about superiority???
And this conclusion you can have it by studying Arab history, you do not even need to look at western sources...
ps: My time is limited I might continue answering with other points when time allows....
Philosophy is not a reliable source for anything and no one ever denied historical books. You just never provided any sources and still failed to provide them with the excuse that they are in some warehouse in Greece and you are in Italy, anyway, ths is the problem, you keep pressing on without producing any concrete citation for absolutely anything. No titles, no authors.
You suggested I study Salahuddin ibnul Ayyubi. Ok? As if he isn't a famous figure in Islam already, and hasn't had books on him published (I used to work for one of the largest Islamic Publication distributors and had a library before I moved out of the States, and not to an Arab country, but a Muslim country. I currently live in Cairo, Egypt.
Salahuddin ibnul Ayyubi is a good historical figure to study a part of Islamic history, but not the best. The only reason you probably think he's the best is perhaps because you are ignorant of other Islamic figures and your vision is severely limited. If you want to discuss ISLAM, then read authentic biographies of the Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), or about Abu Bakr as-Sadeeq, or Umar ibnul Khattab or, Uthman bin Affan, or Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with them), or Muawiyyah, or you can read about the famous four Imams that the 4 schools of Jurisprudence are based on: Imam Malik, Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Shafi'i and Imam al-Hanbali. You can also read about the compilers of the books of Hadeeth such as Imam Al-Bukhaari, Imam Muslim, Imam Abi Dawud, Imam Nasa'i, Imam at-Tirmidhi, and Imam ibn Majah.
You can also read about some more biographies of the actual companions of the Prophet aside from the first four Khulafah mentioned above, after him. Such as Bilal, Ibnul Abbas, Ibn Mas'ood, Abdullah ibn Salam, Ibn Umar, to name only 5 of them from an extensive list of companions that he had during his lifetime.
Or, you can ready biographies of famous scholars, such as Imam ibn Katheer, Ibnul Qayyim, Ibnul Jawzi, Ibn Taymiyyah, Imam Abdul Wahhab, Imam Barbahaari from the past to present, such as Imam as-Sa'adi, Shaykh Al-Albaani, Shaykh bin Baz, Shaykh Uthaymeen, may Allah have mercy on all of them, to living scholars such as Shaykh Rabee al Madkhali, Shaykh Khaalid Uthman, Shaykh Hassan al-Banna, Shaykh Saleh al-Fawzaan, Shaykh Raslan (as was mentioned before, and in whos villiage I was residing in for some time in Egypt), and so on. Real personalities and scholars known to the Taalibul 'Ilm (Students of Knowledge)...and these are from the most famous, I haven't mentioned any other names since, for the most part, these books you will never find in any other language but Arabic.
You told me to start with Salahuddin ibnul Ayyubi......c'mon guy.
Dhul Qarnayn is not a two honred man, what did you read? Where in the Qur'an or authentic hadeeth is there to support this nonsense? If it is not in either of these, then where does that description come from? Which "historical books" that lie?
Like I said in the other post, sultinates and monarchies are NOT from Islam. Islams authentic political and ruling party is the Khilafah and the Khalifah. Everything else is from the systems of men, so this is a bad time to start learning about Islam...but you already admitted to not knowing what you're talking about.
Islam is not like Christianity. There are no hidden libraries, we do not have a an equivalent to the Catacombs under the Vatican and hidden sources of "knowledge". Islam is open, all the books and histories are there for the people who want to know. Arabic is easy to learn for those who really want to know, nothing is hidden. You are merely talking out of your ass. You know it, I know it.
You and your philosophy. Philosophy isn't a foundation for anything, especially not to build an empire upon. Math, please, Muslims have had math on lock since they began exploring after the Arabs were guided to Islam.
You are really going to complain about 1 library in the entire world as your argument, while you keep your books in storage in Greece, supposedely while you are in Italy but can't name 1 book or 1 author (which I bet you will after this post to try to prove a point, since we can't comfirm that you simply google it).
If you really believe that the Muslims didn't invent and bring science and mathamatics with them, then I know that you are not a historian. I mean, I never thought you were, but this proves you aren't.
This conclusion that you came to you probably got ONLY from Western sources. You can't fool me, buddy. You only ever heard of Salahuddin and the Sultinate (if that). Get the hell outta here, trying to appear smart.