Look at how Islam is distinguished even by its name.
The name "Christianity" is bound to, and attached to, Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ himself was a Jew, and remained a Jew.
Jesus Christ did not reject Judaism.
Jesus Christ was one who corrected Judaism, tried to purify it, believed in the Jewish scriptures themselves, explained them, interpreted them, and fulfilled them.
Jesus Christ was one who did not bring a scripture or a set of laws of his own, and who did not give his own models for the whole of life.
Jesus Christ was one who opposed the priesthood and the possibilities of idol worship and polytheism that had wrongly crept into Judaism.
Now look at Christianity, which later came into being in the name of such a Jesus Christ: it is wholly immersed in priesthood, idol worship, and the enshrinement of god-men.
Jesus Christ did not newly create a religion called Christianity; he only spoke of the continuation of the old, of the monotheism that Judaism proclaimed.
Jesus Christ was only a person who tried to set Judaism right once more, grounding it in the Jewish scriptures themselves.
But how did the name "Judaism" come about?
Judaism is bound to, and attached to, the Jewish community.
The names of all the world's religions are attached to, and linked with, some person or community.
But what about Islam? What about the name Islam?
The name Islam is not linked or attached to any person or community.
The name Islam is in the sense of "submission."
The religion of Islam is not meant to enshrine, glorify, or deify any individual, nor to exalt or protect any one community alone.
Islam did not arise by splitting off from Christianity or Judaism.
Islam is something that arose entirely independently, speaking the truth, speaking the continuation of the truth, and affirming those who spoke the truth throughout history.
Islam has, and is in, a continuity of the truth of monotheism, a continuity that affirms those who spoke the truth.
That Islam and the truth have continuity is not a justification for saying Islam arose by splitting off from the others.
It is only that Islam pointed out the past continuity needed for the truth it speaks.
What is that truth, with past continuity, that Islam speaks of?
Monotheism. The rejection of polytheism, idol worship, and belief in god-men.
The rejection of the exploitation caused by polytheism, idol worship, and belief in god-men.
That is what Islam points out in Judaism and Christianity: that monotheism, that rejection of the exploitation of polytheism, idol worship, and god-men, in the form of a correction.
Islam points out, and questions, the errors that arose and crept into Judaism and Christianity along the way in the course of that past continuity.
Islam is the new religion, the way of life, that is the continuation of the old truth, the truth of all times, which came speaking the truth, correcting error, and challenging error.
For Islam to have arisen by splitting off from Judaism and Christianity: Christianity and Judaism were not prominent in Mecca.
Prophet Muhammad was also not someone born and raised as a Jew or a Christian.
Prophet Muhammad spoke of nothing other than the continuation of the same monotheism proclaimed by the prophets who lived on earth before him (and hence the historical figures proclaimed by the Jewish and Christian religions).
With a single difference.
Prophet Muhammad spoke of monotheism only by giving guidance for the whole of life, along with a model to follow.
Prophet Muhammad clearly implemented the rejection of polytheism, idol worship, god-men, and priesthood.
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