Who should Muslims learn from?

Good points. Yes people have a tendency to pick a short period of history and they draw false conclusions.

Now back to the ills of Muslims and who should they learn from.

Well the rules for "learning" are very simple. You pick the most advanced "example" as your teacher, and then emulate him to the best of your abilities.

Right now the people who are at the forefront of knowledge are the Western people. Thus anyone be it Muslim or non-Muslim must learn from them.