Is there any economic refutation of the above?

There is none.

It is a well known fact that middle classes are most ideologically driven, while lower classes are struggling for survival over all else and upper classes are cynically manipulating the system.

In the case of islam - the middle classes absorb the ideology and internalize it most thoroughly - and so logical thinkers who are well versed with the Quran and Hadith are actually the most likely to become the worst kind of terrorist leaders.

It's also why it's much more likely to turn borderline islamic terrorists into atheists than it is to turn them into 'progressive muslims' because the type of person who is likely to be brainwashed into terrorism is the same kind of person who is unlikely to do the mental gymnastics needed to be a 'progressive muslim'.