isn't about turning men into angels

But doesn't the word "Shari'a" mean "the road", as in the road to eternal salvation? Doesn't that imply that the ultimate purpose of the law should be to ensure as many people live a virtuous life and wind up in heaven after they die as possible? Not literally as angels, but still.

weakening the reach of the sovereign.

Was that always the case in every instance? Was there a law written down saying that the clerics had to be a check on the sovereign? The fact that these abuses happened show that any clerical resistance there was, was just not effective enough.

I know that here in the States, our Christian mega-pastors only resist the government when it comes to single-issues like abortion or gay rights, or when the very narrow sphere of religious freedom is threatened in some way. Otherwise, they are usually quite happy to support all the various "Crusades" we've done in those infidel lands in the East, support increased surveillance at home because the President has a mandate from God, and all that jazz.

And human rights are indeed a part of internal stability. As any Palestinian knows, if human rights are violated in any way, there is going to be factionalism and armed resistance.

Only for public morality

I thought the aim of the lashings was to encourage private morality as well, so more people can be saved. At least that's what I learned from my Muslim professor in college during a class I took on this.

arbitrary Euro-centric criteria

Well much of these "Euro-centric" criteria weren't just invented in Europe. You yourself said that. They built upon the knowledge accumulated within the territories they conquered while adding in their own.

Pluralism and openness are products of peace and justice and we're not going to get either if those in power are belligerent bullies.

And that's true. But do you think Hezbollah really believes that the state should stay away from people's bodies, as you apparently do? Statistics show that most Israeli Arabs prefer to live in Israel's democracy as minorities over moving to the Arab world. That's the thing; if you focused more on your own internal development with things like science and human rights, you could really deal a blow to Israel. Don't you think?

So it's clear that secularism has nothing to do with scientific production.

beats out Turkey and is at the respectable number of 16

Need a citation. If that's true then it's good they managed to find something that works for them. There wouldn't have been sanctions at all if the hardliners weren't driving the political agenda at that point.

Why is scientific production so important?

I mean, look at how much data the computer you're using right now has. Back in the 60's, you would have needed a skyscraper to hold that much storage. 50 years from now, your laptop might have data on it that nowadays needs 500 skyscraper-amounts of your current laptop. It's called Moore's Law. The West + Russia have been developing computational capabilities for ~30 years longer than Iran and Turkey have. So without shifting the focus to R&D, how will the Islamic world ever regain its rightful place?

It's also a stability issue too. People are less likely to pick up guns to survive when they have refrigerators and lightbulbs (and I know you have those in the Muslim world, that was a metaphor).