In the past decade almost all Islamic revivalist movements have been labeled fundamentalists , whether they be of extremist or moderate origin . The widespread impact of the term is obvious from the following quotation from one of the most influential Encyclopedias under the title ' Fundamentalist ' : " The term fundamentalist has ... been used to describe members of militant Islamic groups. " Why would the media use this specific word , so often with relation to Muslims ?

Before the term fundamentalist was branded for Muslims , it was , and still is , being used by certain Christian denominations . Most of them are radical Baptist , Lutheran and Presbyterian groups . The Southern Baptist Convention is one such group , they take pride in being called the Fundamentalists . Because , according the them , they have gone back to the fundamentals of Christianity . They preach absolute Biblical inerrency and Millenarianism ( belief in the physical return of Christ to establish a 1000 year reign ) . These radical groups form only a minute minority of the total Christian population , although they may be the most vocal . They want the Church to be the only authority . This reminds the modern man of the Dark Ages in Europe when the Church was in fact supreme .

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What most of these groups do not realize is that the term Fundamentalist is actually derived from a series of essays published from 1910 to 1915 under the title The Fundamentals by British and American evangelists . The purpose of this 12 - volume collection was to determine which churches , according to the authors , held up to genuine Christian doctrine and the ones that did not . Nevertheless the term Fundamentalist , in the Christian world , is synonymous with the ' Bible Thumpers ' and the tele evangelists .

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To apply the same terminology to Muslims is neither fair nor valid . Because in the case of Islam all Muslims believe in absolute inerrency of the Quran , since it is a basic Islamic tenet . Therefore the media would have to use the word fundamentalist for all Muslims! which it does not do . It only uses the word Fundamentalist for both the extremist and terrorist groups , and the true moderate Islamic revivalist movements . Both these definitions are incompatible with each other . Using the word fundamentalist for the former may be acceptable , since it does have some parallel to the Christian definition . But if that definition is to be used , however , then using the same word to describe the latter would be erroneous and completely unacceptable . It is this dual definition that is unfair to the Islamic faith . Therefore the media should either stop using the word Fundamentalist to describe any and all Islamic organizations , or be much more careful in its usage .

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