a bit of a story and a question

I was reading this science fiction book called "The Fall of Hyperion", by Dan Simmons. In it, a network of planetary portals which allowed travel instantly between planets was destroyed, bringing the civilization it created to total collapse. The effect on various planets was described briefly for each. Here was one of them:

On Qom-Riyadh a self-appointed fundamentalist Shiite ayatollah rode out of the desert, called a hundred thousand followers to him, and wiped out the Suni Home Rule government within hours. The new revolutionary government returned power to the mullahs and set back the clock two thousand years. The people rioted with joy.

This was published in 1990.
Is this an age old pattern among muslims (or any religion) that Simmons used to look prescient? Was he prescient? Or is this perhaps the way we of the West perceive followers of Islam, as a backwards-facing people who want nothing but the destruction of civilization?
Maybe I'm reading too much into this.

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One brief thought: I love how, in sci-fi, even when civilization collapses, entire planets are portrayed as going one way or another. Just like here and now on Earth, right?