During the filming of HELP! in 1965 George Harrison reportedly discovered a passion for Indian music and culture during a restaurant scene.
What if instead of the plot revolving around a parody of the Thuggee, the writers saw fit to add something of an Arabian twist to the antagonists, leading to the restaurant in question becoming something a bit more North African (ala Rick's in Casablanca). It's not far fetched, the film was something of a rock and roll Goon Show answer to Duck Soup by the Marx Brothers, who also did A Night in Casablanca roughly twenty years before.
George Harrison discovers the oud and rebab rather than the sitar. The dumbek and riq rather than the tabla. Dhikr rather than meditation. Halal rather than strict vegetarianism. Islam rather than Hinduism...
Arab music is not incredibly dissimilar from Indian music, especially not to Western ears, so much of the rhythms and scales Harrison and the other Beatles begin to experiment with will still for the most part fit within OTL's more Indian sounding Beatles songs.
The big butterfly is the Beatles brief flirtation with Islam, a flirtation which for Harrison becomes a lasting devotion.
So what are the effects even up to the modern day of a Muslim George Harrison, The Beatles experiment with Islam, and Arab music incorporated into Western popular music rather than Indian?
With a massive boost in Western popularity, is Islam and the Arab world in general viewed differently by Anglo-American society?
Is that society viewed differently by the Arab World?
Discuss.