I think you'll find that most people just don't care to pay as much attention to Islam. the only way Islam can affect me, really, is by virtue of a terrorist attack succeeding - not really very likely, and I do not need to read the Koran to understand the ways a terrorist attack can affect me.
On the other hand, the radical elements of Fundamentalist Judaism can affect me through political influence. Judaism is also the religion of my ancestors, and has a great influence on my culture, so it really makes sense to know a lot about it. If I were a Ha'aretz columnist writing about the threat of fundamentalist Jews to me - through things like segregation, bans on secular marriage, etc - would make sense.
If I lived in America - where Muslims are not really very influential - the main religion that can affect political life in such a way that studying its doctrines is important to understand its influence, is Christianity (this cuts both ways - there are also many Christians supporting the current President). If I were an American intellectual I'd be far more interested in Christianity than Islam.
On the other hand, I am more interested in Christianity than Islam right now, since I'm studying under a prominent scholar in the field of its history, so who knows, maybe I'm biased. :D