The article is devoted to one of the greatest threats to broadly understood security, which has become the international terrorism of Muslim groups. At the beginning, the historical, political and social factors that constitute the genesis of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism are presented. At the heart of the struggle of two worlds - the Western and the Muslim - are prejudices, the memory of mutual wrongs, political errors and religious differences, especially religious fundamentalism, which does not allow any consensus. The second part provides a brief history of Islamic fundamentalism and philosophy, and presents its role as an ideological foundation for terrorism. The emphasis was placed on showing the hostility of the fundamentalist ideology towards Euro-Atlantic civilization, its culture and basic principles. The last part is devoted to showing the contradiction between official terrorist doctrine and reality. Contrary to their views and hostility towards the Western world and everything they represent, Islamic extremists use Western technologies and civilization achievements in the fight for the implementation of their often utopian goals. Many indications indicate that the vision of a fanatical terrorist with modern weapons of mass destruction may be real, and thus the scale of the threat to global security is increasing dramatically. On the other hand, the leaders of terrorist organizations pretend not to see the contradictions of their views and slogans with their own plans and achievements. This is evident in their attempt to confront the imaginary enemy, that is, the entire West, using Western techniques from which they are officially renouncing.