WI/AHC An islamist Bagwan/rev.Moon like cult in the 70's, 80's

The 1970's and 1980's saw a rise in popularity for non-christian spirituality. Several actors and writers embracing Buddhism was one aspect of this, the rise of various 'asian' sects like the Hare Krishna and Bhagwan movements or the cult of Rev. Moon was another. Ripples of this still reverberate in our current time.

The challenge: Make Islam take the place of Buddhism in the late 20th century western world and have one or more successful Islam-based cults replace the OTL cults of the 1970's / 80's

Also, how would this shape the modern world, especially post-9-11 America and Europe?
 
Ps... I got the idea for this thread after overhearing some of my relatives discussing politics at the Christmas table:
Uncle 1: "Yea, this are f---ed up times. You'd almost wish your cold war back. At least then we knew who the enemy were"
Uncle 2: "You mean at least, then all those young do-no-goods would run off to Poona and join an ashram instead of running off to Syria to join the ISIS."
Uncle 1: "Yea...Let them get self-radicalised on Hare Krishna. I'd love to see that headline: Brahman lone wolf activist burst into Christmas party, start pelting revelers with flowers. Thirteen people slightly niffed."
 
It seems to me that the main countercultural appeal of Islam among western youth is as a supposed rally-pole against imperialism and its attendant ills, especially racism. You saw this with the heterodox Black Muslims in the 1960s, and today with people who think that joining ISIS is a way of really sticking it to the man.

That being the case, I don't think cultic Islam is going to attract the same sort of people who were attracted to more tranquil and detached groups like the Hare Krishna etc(Moonies are a different thing, kinda like Republican hippies). Moreso people who are looking to continue the armed revolts of the 60s.

So...

Maybe if the Middle East becomes the major focus of US foreign policy at an earlier date, when you've still got a few Weatherman wannabes lurking around looking for an ideological home, but going through a "mystical" phase as they become disillusioned with their youthful Materialism(in the philosophical sense of the word). Maybe the Iranian Revolution or some other Islamic revolution happens in the early 70s, and is seen as picking up where the Viet Cong left off.

Carlos The Jackal converted to Islam in the 90s or early 2000s some time, so there is OTL precedence for this, if you can somehow make the trend more widespread and move it back in time by a couple of decades.
 
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Also, like the Moonies, an Islamic cult might have some appeal to youth who aspire to some sort of relbellion, but don't like the social(mostly sexual) liberalism of the left-wing counterculture.

Maybe if it takes off as per my earlier scenario(ie. becomes a hangout for wayward anti-imperialist youth), it might also find a warm reception in some corners of Second Wave feminism, especially those focused on opposing pornography and the "exploitation of sexuality" in general.
 
Okay, to rephrase the question: What would it take for (Islamic) Sufism to become as popular as Buddhism in the Western counterculture of the 60's and onwards?

=> Would a bigger involvement of the US in North Africa in WWII help? (It would expose more US servicemen to the culture of the Magreb region and the Middle East)

=> Would a bigger popularity of Morocco and Egypt with the beatnicks and hippies of the 1950's - 60's - 70's help? (I understand Marrakesh was a pretty popular destination for the 'flower children' of the early 70's, although this might have more to do with the availability of cheap dope.)

=> Would a persecution of mystic sufi's and their subsequent emigration to the West help? (Western Buddhism I understand got a big boost from the Chinese invasion of Tibet and the subsequent exile of the Dalai Lama to Switzerland.)

=> Or is Sufism doomed from the start because it is tied to the strict rules of orthodox Islam while Zen-buddhism is linked to the rather loose rules of mainstream Buddhism? I gather in this case it would not attract the likes of Richard Geere or Leonard Cohen like Buddhism does, but may be it could snatch an alternate John Travolta and Tom Cruise from Scientology? (Not sure if that would be an improvement though...)
 
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