Re: I was talking to a Sikh........
I see many misconceptions on this thread, and will try to clear them up.
The person you quoted is wrong.
The world is for everyone - Muslims and non-Muslims. Both groups are equal in one sense - they both will be prosperous and/or unprosperous. The difference in between is of faith. Allah does not restrict non-Muslims from prospering because of their disbelief. He says, when one is in disbelief, he gives them prosperity and than they start to think "I'm a disbeliever (of Islam), yet I am prospering, so I will continue to follow the path I am on right now (disbelief), and that will be better for me". So they keep on prospering, while at the same time they lead themselves farther & farther away from the right-path (belief). As for the Muslim, they will believe, and follow the right path, and they too will be granted prosperity. The difference (according to Islam) is that the Muslims will be on the right-path and the non-Muslims will be away from the right path. This will be important in the afterlife, as only the believers will be allowed into heaven, and the disbelievers will be put in hell.
Thats is not true.
Allah sent 124,000 Messengers (Prophets), but only a handful of them are mentioned in the Quran. Each Messenger brought down a system of belief (as ordered by Allah), but they are not all mentioned in the Quran & Hadeeth. Just because they are not mentioned doesn't mean that they don't exist (as sent by Allah). We, Muslims, believe that every belief (sent by Allah swt), before Islam, had been corrupted or destroyed. Hinduism and Buddhism may have been religions sent down by Allah, through a Prophet, but we (Muslims) do not know, as they are not mentioned in our scriptures. But we do know (as our belief) is that these religions are false. This does not mean that they are man-made. It may mean that they were sent by Allah, and than corrupted by man.
To you be your belief, and me mine.
I won't force you to change your mind - its up to you, and I respect your decision :)
In order to go to heaven, there are some requirementss, of which you must have every single one. Good deeds, honesty and loyalty are all there in Islam, but the most essential part is the belief in Allah & Allah alone. For example, if you want to goto a good university in Canada (and you live in Canada) you need minimum of 30 credits (courses/subjects) to graduate out of highschool, with good marks. If you get 29 credits with perfect (excellent) marks, but you fail the 30th, you do not get to graduate & cannot goto university. This is because you did not meet the requirements, regardless of how good you did in other credits. It is the same in Islam, you need to get all of the credits (requirements) in order to go to heaven. You can have have all of your requirements perfected, but if one is missing, you will not be allowed into heaven.
Yes, I think that, and whoever is Muslim should do it as well. And if they don't, they need to rehearse their knowledge of Islam.
As for God being selfish... well, he is not selfish. In Islamic beliefs, we are sent down on earth to worship him, while we live life, do good deeds, and follow Islam. If you chose not to praise him, you are discarding what Allah sent you to do, and hence your punishment is hell.
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I hope I've cleared up any misconceptions, and answered everyones questions.