Would I recommend Islam to a Westerner ?
As a personal belief system, yes, very much so, but as a religion, no, absolutely not. because I am against Organised Religion and there are many Muslims I know who feel the same.
If you are at liberty to practice the religion the way you want to, Islam carries with it many useful lessons, historical accounts, prophesies that you will find extremely useful. It does not cover every single aspect of life, but no book on Earth can do that. It is however excellent reading and useful tool for the excellent mind. It even has cryogenics and hints of time travel. I think perhaps the Arabs have been looking at the Stars too much. But it is excellent, yes.
In most countries and nations in the West, you have liberty. As of writing, the USA have just made Gay marriage legal at federal level, which means states such as the Bible belt banning Gay marriage now have to deal with the new federal law and dismantle their own inhumane laws. So you have much personal liberty to believe in whatever you want in the USA, and typically in Western countries, such that Islam can be offered as one of the Great World Religions.
Taking Islam as a religion and having hierarchical structure similar to Christianity ( imams, ulamas and so on ) would make Islam, exhibit exactly the same characteristics as Christians had in the Dark Ages, which is why I would not recommend at all Islam as a religion, for the West. As for the East, and especially the Far East where Islam originated, the sheer turbulence happening today in Arab Countries is perhaps all due to Islam.
To begin with, Islam has already set foot in the USA, and is now already screaming to have their own territory and their own “Sharia Law” which runs contradict to Western Laws and Western Values. Please do have a peek at what Islam is, as a Personal Belief has to offer, and decide for yourself if it is your cup of tea. Or as a mere academic exercise. My recommendation is take the Personal Belief System or Philosophy, Reject the Religion and Religionising of Things which ought to be Personal in the first place. Study the Religion, so that you do not get Indoctrinated or cheated.
When the Imam of city in USA, a Muslim, came here to the East to preach, it created an uproar. Muslims here believe ladies are not allowed to be Imams, to take any leadership position, and a women is projected as inferior to the male in the Koran. This lady Imam from the USA thus created quite a sensation. It made Muslims disrespect USA even more, and disrespect USA Muslim as being of a lesser Muslim or contaminated ( Westernised ) Muslim.
The other Western Muslim lady is Irshad Manji, ( a Canadian lady who is lesbian and openly so. The Wiki description of her is interesting, an extract reproduced below for convenience. ) She has done a lot of work promoting her liberal Islam, much to the disgust of Muslims and Islamists. The Islamic World has serious issues with Lesbians, Gay, Bisexuals and Transvestites ( the so called LGBT ).
Muslims males have serious trouble coping with sexual issues, and that is why they want a women totally covered up. Especially their women, and that's due to their own jealousy and extreme possessiveness, and other women too, as they have no control whatsoever over their senses, and the sight of an uncovered women in town is just too much for them. Never been exposed to a Free society, and never having had much success with women, it is their only security against the most potent weapon of a women, her body.
Muslim males support the covering up of women as a means of their own Dominance and Freedom and because of their own insecurity. And because Allah says so, the women cannot argue or object. Muslim males can marry up to four wives while Muslim women cannot even go out of the house without the husbands permission. Muslim women too comply, and obey blindly, not wanting to create tension and an argumentative atmosphere. The result is a world full of Nuns and Sisters, only this time around, Muslim or Islamist Nuns and Sisters.
In the Koran, when the Prophet ( Allah ) says to the women cover your modesty, if we translate that into modern Western values, it would be " please don't come to office dressed in a bikini ! ". But Islamist and Ignorant Muslims take it to mean to cover their women so much that only the eyes are visible ! And wherever you go to any Islamic Countries, you can see these “Zorros” in shopping complexes and supermarkets. That is another reason I say Salafi is everywhere.
The reason Arabic women cover themselves up is sandstorm, and Middle Eastern people are familiar with sandstorms, and the head covers of the male Arabs came into being also as a protection against the sandstorm. It is of course the traditional or tribal dress of the Arabs, both traditional and still is today ( the sandstorms are still the same ! ). You will find traditional clothes all over the world suited to their respective environment and climate.
Westerners wear a Necktie not to look smart, but the Necltie serves to tie up the collar onto the neck so that snow does not get into the inner clothes and body, which can be very cold if it happens. With global influence of Westerners, it has become to be accepted as a formal way to dress and used all over the World, even in hot climate countries in Asia and Middle East.
Lots of people I know when given a free choice of dressing choose the coat and necktie just to look smart. I see them with sweat pouring down their beards walking to their Friday Prayers. Friday Prayers is a Muslim ritual in which Muslims are required to do their Midday Daily Prayer at the Mosque, and is Mandatory.
The idea of this Friday Prayers ritual is social integration and a common place for the society or community to meet, and where they get updates news and information in the era where news and information comes via the newspaper or messenger boy. But with Muslims secluding themselves from the rest of the World and from their own society and communities, this Islamic ritual somewhat failed to meet it's main objective entirely. Thus typically Muslims are not aware with what is going on with the rest of the society, i.e. they are not involved. A sudden news and realisation that a Pork Processing Plant is to be built nearby would then trigger a mass demonstration in Democratic societies, and Riots and Civil Unrest in Undemocratic or less advanced societies.
The outcome is a meeting of Muslims and Muslims only on Friday, causing much chaos and inconvenience to the rest of the society. It is like a roll call for everyone in the military service ( with the dress code for Mosque and Friday Prayers being some kind of uniform ), and the rest of the society are civilians going about their normal busy lives. And yes, in Islamic States, the attendance of Friday Prayers is compulsory by Law. And so we have Laws applicable only to Muslims, while non-Muslims watch with most interest. The society is divided. Islam divides the society by Law.
Of course you can argue that in this age of Social Networking, a Muslim can still keep in touch with the main society via Social Media. But meeting in person is just not the same as meeting in social media. business people spend thousands of dollars to fly to the other end of the Globe, just to conduct an important business meeting, which can really be done using technology today without having to move more than a metre, easy. But the idea is eye contact, and this is a very important human trait.
If not made compulsory, then only Islamists and Fanatic Muslims would go for Friday Prayers, the rest of the Muslim population remaining with the rest of the society in peace. We would know those Muslims who go for Friday Prayers must indeed be very serious about their personal belief and religion, and alarm bells ring. Parent would know there is something amiss when their sons are suddenly interested in Friday Prayers ( it is not compulsory for Muslim women ), and can get to the root of the problem, begin dressing differently, and begin seeing sins of non-Muslims or Kafirs.
Cults conveniently make use of this very mechanism in Islam, to organise their own "Friday Prayers". Compulsory mass gathering like these not organized by the government can be dangerous. This is where Imams, the power crazy and evil ones, make best use of this mechanism to spread their influence and bias and let their audience have it all. Typically, riots and killings occur after Friday Prayers. And if you listen to contents of the sermons during Fridays, they are either nonsensical, time wasters, or evil and dangerous, inciting hatred. This is why Islamic Governments regulate the contents of Friday sermons.
So I would recommend a personal Islam for Westerners, but I surely do not recommend seclusion from the rest of society, and by that I cannot recommend the Mosque and Friday Prayers be made compulsory. Which means I cannot recommend the Religion Islam, at all, in it's form today.
By all means, take a translated copy of the Koran, and have a good read, or take it as a historical book, and enjoy yourself, the account of interesting events in our human history. And when you are done, the next Muslim you meet better not try and tell you what the Koran says ! for you have read and understood ( metaphorically ), but they perhaps do not even understand the language ( Arabic ).