Anyone know if there's any kind of central (living) authority figure for the religion, analogous to the pope for catholicism? Or is the religion split up into too many fragments?

We always hear about all these muslim clerics leading political groups, militias, etc., I'm just wondering what the highest position in the islamic church (or whatever the proper term for them is) is, and/or who it is these guys ultimately answer to (other than Allah and the prophet).

No there is no "central" religious authority figure in Islam like the pope, there are various religious "leaders" and "learned men" but they have no more religious power then anyone else in Islam itself.

Anyone can issue a religious edict or religious jurisprudence but it must be based on the Quran and Hadith (collections of books of sayings and life of the Prophet and of early islamic history) to have any merit.

However the Quran is the authoritative book for all things Islam, since we believe that it is literally "the word of god". However, Hadith were formed from stories about what the Prophet did in his life and events after his life and much of islamic law and culture etc.. comes from these Hadiths, there are MANY different kinds of hadiths and MANY different interpretations of them, too numerous to list.

i hope that answers your question, think of Islam as a decentralised religion, there is no real one person who is in charge, even the the Prophet Muhammad we believe was a Prophet of the religion like those before him, Issa (Jesus), Musa (Moses) etc.., and nothing more..

i hope that answers your question?

Yep, thanks for the explanation. ^^d