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Nearly every non-Arab Muslim I know in the Middle East has memorized the Koran AND can speak Arabic. Sure, the Arabic the Koran is written in isn't "street" Arabic. Nevertheless, Koran quotes are ubiquitous here, and every practicing Muslim I've known knows what's being said -- even the many illiterate ones I've conversed with in English or through an interpreter.

Want to lose whatever illusions you might have concerning the Middle East, Arabs, Muslims and Islam? -- Come to the Middle East and spend 8-10 hours a day for at least a year, working and living with hundreds of Arab and non-Arab Muslims.

I'll cut to the chase now: Besides a few months, I have spent the last three years living, working and traveling throughout the Middle East. You're largely wasting your time trying to understand what makes Arabs, and Arab Muslims tick, from an armchair back in the West. Believe me, I once had a lot of opinions, mostly shaped by things I'd read, concerning Muslims, Arabs, Islam and the Middle East. Many of those opinions were destroyed shortly after arriving here. Some were reinforced. Overwhelmingly, native Arab Muslims do not think like Westerners. Compared to Westerners, they may as well be Martians. Trying to analyze them via Western thought models is extremely inefficient. And no folks, they don't generally crave "democracy." But they generally do crave sharia.

Good fences make good neighbors.

Nearly every non-Arab Muslim I know in the Middle East has memorized the Koran AND can speak Arabic

Many of the worlds Muslims, including Pakistanis Afghanis, Indonesians, Nigerians, Somalis, and so on, don't live in the Middle East or speak Arabic. The links I provided in my earlier reply were by people opposed to Islam and include ex-Muslims and it's there assessment that large numbers of Muslims don't really know the Koran. Not discounting your experiences out of hand, however, what was the context in which you were talking to these people about Islam? (You don't have too specific but having been overseas I know that such conversations can range from the casual to in-depth and I'm curious about the breadth and depth of the conversations you've had.)

Earlier in the thread, I discussed the legitimacy of cultural filters for immigration and I think it's a good idea, at least in theory. Having known quite Westernized Muslims (as well as non-Muslims from the Middle East) and having lived in and done work in Asia and seen the difference in cultures there, how much of that is the regional culture and how much if it is the religion? In my experience, for example, Persians who left Iran before or during the Shah's reign seem to have a very different attitude than Arabic people, almost regardless of religion, and remember that before the PLO moved in, even Lebanon was not such a bad place to be because of the European cultural influences.