It may surprise you to learn that in the cities of countries like Syria, under the dictatorship, that people became quite secular and focused on all of the things that people who live in western cities focus on. Sure they have Islam as a pert of the background noise. Just like the west has Christianity as a part of the background. And even a few fundamentalists who make Christianity look really bad. They are not all zealous demonstrators of the fervour of their faith. The dictators like the Shah of Iran were forces for modernization, westward looking. Maybe you do not remember that Beirut was once a cosmopolitan city and compared to Paris. Young people used to go as tourists to Afghanistan. Even Tehran was a desired exotic destination. There are lots of people in the Islamic world who would be just like you and me if they had the chance.