I think my issue was that Islamic nations are poor by virtue of their religion which resists progress. It was not religion that resisted progress as much as a single autocratic government (the Ottoman's) over much of the Muslim world.

A more accurate statement would be that for much of history, autocratic countries resisted progress... including Buddhist China, Hindu India, and the Catholic Spanish controlled empire of South and Central America.

There have been some great studies on this topic, which point to the threat that a middle class creates for autocrats, who thrive better in a two-class society... Over time the bigger the middle class becomes the more they push for "a voice" in government. It becomes increasingly acute when they have to pay taxes or serve in the military.

Some of these studies have pointed to the negative aspects of a country having rich natural resources that autocrats can exploit to fund their militaries, but in other cases, simply keeping the people poor works pretty well... North Korea being a good example.

At some level capitalism more than religion undermines autocracies, because while every economic system has rich and poor, capitalism creates a strong middle class by nature of the "marketplace" creating income and wealth distribution independent of the government.