"Islam" comes from the Arabic root salaama which means peace, purity, submission and obedience. Islam advocates peace by submitting to the will of God and obeying His law. Jews and Christians see Islam as the last of the world's great religions. However, Muslims around the world (sometimes spelled "Muslims") understand their universal religion as the "final religion" and the "primordial religion". As "final", Islam is God's final revelation of the prophetic religion, fulfilling all that preceded it. Moses was given the Law; David was given the Psalms; The Gospel was given to Jesus. Judaism offers God's message of justice, and Christianity proclaims God's love. To Muhammad (570-632 AD; written variously) the God of Abraham and Jesus revealed the Koran (Arabic for "recitation", a times written Quran). The Quran, written in Arabic, is the Holy Scripture of Islam, the perfection of all previous divine revelations, and must be understood literally as the direct words of God. In this sense of scriptural literalism, all Muslims can be defined as “ fundamentalists." However, when talking about the aggressive behavior of a few, "militants" and "extremists" are better categories. Muslims believe in all the prophets of the Bible. The Quran itself mentions the Torah and the Gospel as scriptures revealed by God to Moses and Jesus. However, the Quran indicates that changes have been made to the current biblical texts over time, due to commentaries mixed with the original text, as well as losses of the texts due to transmission and other causes. For these reasons, Muslims cannot absolutely rely on the Torah and the Gospels as sources of revelation, unless they confirm what is contained in the Quran or at least are in harmony with... middle of paper... leaders are divided over national loyalties. As a result of colonialism, the Muslim world broke up into many nation-states. Some leaders welcome this development, but others fear that the unifying spirit of Islam is being betrayed by political nationalism. Although it has not had centralized authority for centuries, Islam has maintained a remarkable spirit of unity. With the emergence of a variety of political structures in the Muslim world, however, some believers – probably a minority – would prefer more centralized leadership for religious unity. Others believe that God alone should rule without any earthly mediating authority. Sources http://www.philosophy-religion.org/world/index.htm Fundamentalism: http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/fund.html Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations : http://macdonald.hartsem.edu/