Islam hasn't existed for 'thousands of years'. It has only been around for 1500 odd years. If you can't even get that tiny factoid right, what credibility does the rest of your screed warrant? You want to talk history? OK. Islam goes through periods of dark ages and resurgences of enlightenment like any other culturally linked belief system. It is a highly complex religion that cannot be easily simplified.When the Christian empire was in its own dark ages, the Islamic world was in a golden age, and they maintained knowledge of classical mathematics, art, philosophy and science while the Christians were huddled in huts picking lice off each other. The majority of Muslims in the world *aren't even in the Middle East* - and Islamic fundamentalists make up a tiny - but vociferous - minority of them. There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world. If they were all crazy Jihadist *****, then we in the West would be utterly *****. They aren't, and we're not. Simplistic world views are for simpletons.