From the pints of view of states in the middle East they are exporting the extremists from their own Nations

So they do not destabilize their home lands

Also due to the restriction of freedoms places like Saudi Arabia and others heavily recruit

Foreign professionals the because they are worried about their own native population

On a separate point the conservatism in Islam i believe could also be due to the rise of the West when in the past

It was the Islamic Nations that were enlightened

In order to protect themselves rightly or wrongly they embrace conservatism

That at least one of many possibilities for the reasons they are the way they are