I think it’s easy, and dangerous, for us to fall into the trap of thinking that a few rabble rousers manipulate people into actions they would not otherwise consider. There have to be a set of predispositions which are triggered. This is a complex issue, and not one which can be examined without fully understanding the Islamic view of the world (or weltanshauung). For instance, it is not enough to state, in the Chinese case, that both the Chinese and NATO countries have a word for deterrence and therefore they both share the same concept (they don’t). Similarly, one must get to grips with the moral concepts that animate Muslims and the role and place they have within that particular practico-ethical universe. For instance, we understand persecution/oppression to mean, in ordinary language usage, physical or structural constraints on the liberty of individuals or groups entailing violence of a structural (physical) or moral (ideological) kind. In the Islamic mind persecution is an all encompassing concept that includes the notion of criticising Islam or Muhammad or even rejecting the Islamic mission (etc.). I would suggest, firstly, you look at situational action theory for a methodological approach which examines social action as dependent upon normative and socially accepted forms of what constitutes legitimate and non-legitimate responses to situations of stress (you could call this a meta-narrative or a tradition, etc.). Secondly, the following books (and article) may be of use;

Collinson, Rethinking Followership: A Post-structuralist Analysis of Follower Identities (examines the outmoded approach of an unthinking mass manipulated by “instigators” and also provides an overview of the state of the art as well as an argument for social action to be viewed as “dramaturgical”; which he thankfully explains).

Thiele, The Heart of Judgement

Akhtar, Quran and the Secular Mind: A Philosophy of Islam (a critique of externalist accounts of Islam which states that Islam and Muslims should be understood on their own terms, through their own ethical and political concepts).

Murawiec, The Mind of Jihad (absolutely essential reading and covers a similar approach to yours via anthropology and social-psychology)

Mathewes, Understanding Religious Ethics (section on Islam)

And, two works which have been out of print for some time but which should be essential reading,

T. Izutsu, Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Quran &

T. Izutsu, God and Man in the Quran: Semantics of the Quranic Weltanschauung