In times of chaos, uncertainty & uncomprehensible change, many ordinary people turn to religion & the Moslems are more inclined to do so thwn most. At this rtime in their history they as a group feel under attack.

Religion provides a perception of authority & stability. Criminals usually become the target of peoples confusion & anger & Islam (the religion) in particualr has effective ways of punishing repeat offenders.

Iraq under Saddam was to a certain degree stable. That got taken away.

The thing to cap it off for them is that the extremeists in Islam are winning people over more than any other faction.

Doug M