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what i think you will find is that when foreigners leave their respective countries and set up shop in other countries, they leave with a lot of insecurities. So when they arrive they try and find other people that share the same, culture, food, language as well as the same beliefs. It gives them confidence that they'll have less insecurities because they have someone or something to fall back on. this may or may not be a bad thing because this may introduce ghetto-isation of certain communities which could have an affect on the community itself, causing it to close off outsiders. but thats a whole topic in itself.
the point in trying to get at here, is that when foreighnors leave their home countries, they tend to rely on who and what they know in a forgeign place. For example for muslims, it would be family and religion. I've noticed with my immediate family itself (parents, uncles aunts, cousins) that as quite liberal and open lebanese families are, that they certainly became more religious when they arrived in australia. they lived together initially, set up businesses, bought houses together, attanded the local mosque and worshipped together. i think the fear of becoming alien to their home country's way of life, and of losing their identity, their culture, customs and language is a fear that they all have. even for myself.
as well as i can speak arabic compared to the local australian arabic community, when i travel to lebanon (or any other arab country) i find that my arabic lacks depth because i didnt study it at school and didnt speak it like arabs do in the middle east. i fear that my son will know even less arabic than i would and that my great grandchildren will lose it altogether, and i hope that my son has that sense of belonging to want to learn it and about his culture. i can only hope.
on the other hand, you will find ( and i have seen this first hand) that many muslims in the middle east will drink and some will even fast ramadan or pray their daily prayers. some may not do any of those, but will still identify themselves as muslims and outsiders still see that as a sign of devoutedness. what ive found is that muslims in the middle east take their religion and culture less seriously than muslims in foreign parts of the world because there isnt a danger of them and their kids losing their culture, religion, language etc.
so im simple terms, to answer your question, yes there is semi practicing muslims. some do it out of norms, some do it out of social pressures, others do it because they have a fervour to practice it. you just have to poke around and you'll see the spectrum.
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