the islamic world consists of all people who are in islam. it is not an exact location, but rather a community. when they do things together as muslims, they are the "umma", which means "community" referring to all of the believers. the faith emphasizes unity and defense of fellow muslims, so it is common for these nations to cooperate. recent conflicts in the muslim world have sometimes spread because of this desire to cooperate (see below). it is also likely that some have been made shorter and less damaging because of it. some might even have never started.