What are some ways that Islam has affected the Muslim people of the Middle East?

The Middle East and Islam seem inseparable. Islam, through its expansion, unified the Middle East both economically and, at times, politically. The Middle East has been and still is more than just Islam, but it's impossible to deny the substantial influence the religion has had on the region and the fact that Islam has become a convenient way to define the region.

An informal structure in a bureaucracy would be something like so-called "office politics". where there's a formal structure set up for the organization, but then an informal subculture as well that has a way of organizing the bureaucracy further. this can be positive because it sets up an added degree of organization, albeit informal, within the bureaucracy.