Please regard this polemic as an exercise in education and not an indulgence in blasphemy. These are questions that were posed to me and are not mine.
Note- I know Shaitaan is not available to respond but he can email his responses to me and I will publish them.
I will take a shot at this based on my understanding.
- Which God asks its followers to reaffirm their commitment to him 5 times a day? Is it that they have weak spirits and need to show their commitment? Salaah is not to show Allah one's commitment to Him. He is believed to already know that. As the Prophet stated, "Salaah keeps a person away from shameful things". That is the objective. One who truly observe salaah is too pre-occupied with the remembrance of Allah that he avoids getting into trouble. All the matters of numbers and sins and blessings are in the ahadiths so one has to treat them as such.
- Why is there a percentage ascribed to the concept of blessings, especially on certain days or in some months (like blessings are doubled during the month of Ramadaan or your chances of getting to heaven increases if you depart this world during that month? Here again are just stuff determined by the jurists on the strength of the ahadiths. The only numbering given in the Qur'an is where it states that "He that doeth good shall have ten times as much to his credit: He that doeth evil shall only be recompensed according to his evil" There is the other passage abut how one corn grain can multiply into 7 ears bearing 700 grains which is used by the ahadiths in some of their numbering. Same with the value of Ramadan where the 10 times quote above is used to give 10 blessings for each obligatory action and then the 1000 months which I think the Qur'anic passage is using more to demonstrate the value of the actual night that the Qur'an descended the heavens rather than every year's lailatul qadr. The Qur'an is very basic on its advise. Do good deeds and you are rewarded. Make mischief and you get punished plain and simple. It even stated that God does not intend that believers should go through hardships yet we see practices of believers standing and counting how many times they recite the Qul in their lailatul qadr salaah. All made up things to make the practice of Islam difficult which was not what Allah or Muhammad intended. There are a lot of numbering speeches given by imams that if you pay attention to them you will end up with whiplash.
- Why is there a sliding scale of blessings for certain acts like blessings are quantifiable and not binary like being pregnant or not being pregnant? As pointed out above, there is really no such thing. Again, because of Allah's intent for believers to not over-exert themselves, people with certain conditions are exempt from certain rituals. It is more about the excuse than the rule.
- Why is the current state of development of the Muslim world (being so low compared with the West, China and India, etc.) explained away that God is testing his followers? Or is it that this life does not matter and the eternal one after this life matters? This is where Muslims make a huge mistake. I know I can be accused of using the ahadiths when it is convenient and maybe that is exactly what I do. As a follower of Islam, I used the Qur'an as the barometer for other Islamic materials. The areas of the ahadith that agree with the Qur'anic concepts are fine with me. To this effect, the Prophet advised his followers to work for this world as if they are going to be her forever and work or the hereafter as if they are going to die tomorrow. That is so clear that we are supposed to pretend that we will be here forever so those who are ignoring this world are actually disagreeing with his advise. Unfortunately the religious leaders like it this way because they get to control the minds of the followings. Meanwhile the rest of the world is moving right ahead. I once read that the technology of the press machine was presented to the Muslim world leaders about 200 years before it went into effect but they ignore its importance. Imagine how much more Qur'ans could have been printed and distributed during that time not to mention other books of learning. Muslims need to get with the times.
- Islam does not brook symbolism - no portraits, not exulting of humans and the human form - yet one must face the Kaaba to pray and Angels and Prophets clearly have a higher status to be venerated? (BTW, this is one of the knock against ISIL by Al Qaeda that some dude declared himself the Caliph of all Muslims because he is the direct descendant of Islam's holiest of Prophets (I may be wrong tat there is a hierarchy amongst God's Prophets, even though it is customary to repeat On whom be peace or ṣalla llāhu ʿalay-hi wa-sallam). The facing of the Kaaba was granted to the Prophet because he wanted a direction to focus on. It was also given to all his followers. More to do with a universal direction/fellowship so to speak. I have yet to meet a Muslim who sees the kaaba as an object of worship. It is never on my mind during salaah and I doubt it is on any other worshipper's. It is probably a good idea that we have it because it give us something uniform since so much around us is so disunited. Islam does not teach that angels have higher standings than humans. It is the other way around. There are some angels who have excelled while there are others who have not. Now prophets are of a higher stature because the belief is that Allah has chosen them. We revere Muhammad because he is our own no different than we would cherish our kids more because they are ours. All prophets had their responsibilities which they fulfilled completely. ISIL are just evil scumbags and even if one of so was a direct descendent of Muhammad it does not mean squat. After all, Abraham was so much different from his father.
I would encourage other questions and please no flame as this is intended purely to be an academic inquiry.