Rating: 
Summary: A beautifully done documentary but did not go far enough
Review: This is a beautifully done documentary with a lot of recreated scenes. It started with the beginning of Islam till the end of Ottoman Empire. It would be much more complete if the formation of modern Islamic world which is greatly impacting the world today is included-especially with real documentary footage and interviews with modern political figures and ordinary people. How did Indonesia become Islamic? What are the relationship between Islamic states in the modern day Middle East? What is the difference between fundemantal Islams and moderate Islams? Why do their beliefs differ? The conflict between India and Pakistan, the conflict between Jews and Arabs are missing. There are too many unanswered questions. Yet these should all be part of the history of Islam.
Rating: 
Summary: Not so tolerant as the video claims
Review: I have a number of problems with this video. Questionable "facts" and "achievements" are presented in a prejudiced, politically correct version of "history". What seems more and more to pass as history these days is a pollyanna-esque picture of all enemies of Western civilization. Perhaps this video reflects the anti-Western attitudes of its producers more accurately than it reflects actual history. Among a great many revisions of history proclaimed in this video, many already covered by other reviewers, is the belief that Islam has been a tolerant religion toward other religions throughout history. The video claims repeatedly that Islamic society was tolerant of other religions. This was true only to a limited extent and only in a select few places for a select few years, and usually only to a select few people who's expertise was required by the ruler. In 99% of the Islamic lands 99% of the time, Christians and Jews, the "People of the Book", were controlled by a harsh system of Jim Crow-type laws. They were forbidden to strike any Muslim under penalty of death, even in self-defense. If a Christian mans wife was attacked by a Muslim, he was forbidden by law to interfere. If a Christian or Jew was accused of a crime, he was forbidden to testify in court, even in self-defence, for his non-Muslim testimony was considered unreliable to the Muslim judges. Non-Muslims were forbidden to convert Muslims to their faith and were forbidden to preach their faith in public. They also were required to pay a heavy tax called jizyah in order to retain what little religious freedom they had. Pagans and atheists, on the other hand, were required to convert to Islam or die. I ask you, is this tolerance? No it is not. And to reply that other religions were equally intolerant misses the point altogether. No one is claiming other religions were more tolerant at this time. The video claims that Islam was tolerant. That is a lie. Of all empires of this time period, the most religiously tolerant were, oddly, the Mongols. Which brings me to another point: The video presents the eventual Mongol conversion to Islam as some sort of miracle. It was not. The Mongols were astute politicians, making themselves more acceptible to their numerous subjects by adopting the customs and religions of the conquered people. They did exactly the same thing in China, becoming Buddhists rather than Muslims. A number of the Mongol Khans were also Christians. In every case, their "conversion" was politically motivated, not a real heart-felt conversion. Not so miraculous after all. For a good overview of Mongol history read "The History of the Mongol Conquests" by J.J. Saunders, available at Amazon.com.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh Boy!
Review: This one is sure to step on too many toes. Yes! all sorts of reviews have already been written. Bouquets and Brickbats abound. What is missing in most of the reviews is that this is an attempt to really highlight, what the world has long relegated to shadows. An attempt by non-Muslims to delve into the arena where the millionaire Arabs should have delved into long ago. Another example of the Muslim nation asleep.
The information supplied in this documentary was the worst nightmare for some people who see history through prejudiced 80% tinted glasses and prefer that other's see it that way too...but then history is history and Muslims should have no reason to live in it and excuse their present intellectual stagnation by harping about their past glories for ages to come.The documentary is also factual in how it details Muslim accomplishments by duly taking their basis from Greek and Indian scholars. After all, Mr. Philipps of Harrow, Mr. Tatin with the aeroplane constructed by him at Chalais-Meudon, Mr. Lilienthal near Berlin, had all contributed to the dream of Flying machine before Wright brothers perfected it, not before duly giving credit to them all.
Just as Greeks can only share but not lay claim to advances in medicine, astronomy or architectural marvels accomplished by Muslims, neither can Indians lay claim to refinement and usage of their zero and modern applications brought by Arabs and in the same zeal, Muslims can only share but not claim of any significant contribution to the era of Western Industrial revolution.
Rating: 
Summary: An "infomercial" for Islam!
Review: Watched this when it was shown as a fund raiser by local KOCE educational channel. The "glories" of Islamic accomplishments during its' 12-14 century heyday are emphasized interspersed by glowing tributes of academics with practically no mention of the cruelty of it's conquests or the repressiveness rampant in Islamic regimes. Pure propaganda!
Rating:
Summary: Betten than 10 years of history at school!
Review: I did my schooling in Saudi Arabia & I have to say that this documentary is better than all the years studying Islamic history in an Islamic school system. For starters, it's entertaining, well shot, & full of info! I was amazed at how entertaining they made the whole experience, but then again, compared to being stuck in a class room anything would be entertaining. I only wish it discussed the fall of the Islamic empire after World War I, a very vague time in Islamic History!
Rating:
Summary: I would have like more indepth discussion of Mohammed
Review: Some of the best photography I've seen on dvd. A good overview of Islam, though they attempted to cover too much time and history in such a short documentary. I had just finished Washington Irving's "Life Of Mohammed" so many of the facts of Islam and Mohammed's life were fresh in my mind. Reading a biography offers much more opportunity to explore the day to day details and insights of its subject, and this biography did, leaving me to feel all the more shortchanged in what the documentary had to offer. I think this dvd nicely complimented the Irving biography, and I don't regret purchasing this dvd, but if I had only this dvd to go by I would have missed the substance of the man behind Islam. As I said in another review, these documentaries are great train rides through history. You see many things but really nothing. These documentaries need to stop and let the viewer look and savor the the local literary, social and political climate. Perhaps a dvd documentary on the life of Mohammend would have been a better two hour documentary. I'm not encouraged to purchase any more of this series by PBS.
Rating:
Summary: That's the history of Muslims!
Review: No doubt that it is a must see documentary. But i would like to say some words about the reviewer who tried to implement his own kind of logic about Islam by just surfing some websites. I wonder how many false and baseless materials you can find on net these days. It is such a shame to compare those web sites with the efforts that PBS has put to produce such a wonder full documentary. No Contest.
This documentary does not say that Muslims were the first to research in everything or science begins with Islam. But this is the fact that they researched on almost every branch of science like Chemistry, Zoology, Botany, Animal Husbandry, Mathematics, Trigonometry, Lexicography, Philosophy, Physics, Optics, Medicine, Surgery, Metallurgy, Astronomy, Mechanics, Mechanics of Flight, Planetarium, Artificial Crystals, Civil Engineering and Jurisprudence. I wonder how many ancient Greeks book are being taught in universities:) but you can easily find out books/references by Muslim scientists in universities like Oxford. As far as current state of Muslims is concerned, it has been happening all the time and with all other nations/religions too. Look into the history.
Rating:
Summary: The video lies: A quick lesson in history
Review: "Algebra and trigonometry, engineering and astronomy, countless disciplines integral to our lives today trace their roots to Islamic scientists". This quote from the video demonstrates the tone of what you will get if you purchase this video. Unfortunately, the entire quote is a lie. Contrary to the opinions of the Muslim apologists I have just finished reading, there was science and mathematics prior to the beginnings of Islam. Let us examine that quote: Al-Khwarizmi was a Muslim scholar working at the House of Wisdom, an academy in Baghdad modelled after the Great Library of Alexandria, where Greek and Indian philosophical and scientific texts were translated. Al-Khwarizmi wrote a book around the year 830 AD called "Hisab al-jabr w'al-muqabala" from which the term "algebra" got its name--the word "al-jabr" means "completion"--however, the actual process of algebra (without being so named) was invented by an Alexandrian Greek named Diophantus. Diophantus lived approximately 600 years before Al-Khwarizmi. Diophantus wrote a text on algebra around the year 250 AD, many centuries ahead of the Muslims. Diophantus is universally recognized (with the possible exception of a few Muslim apologists) as the "father of algebra". Furthermore, it should be noted that Al-Khwarizmi's algebra was done entirely in written words--there was none of the algebraic notation we use today. At any rate, he wrote his "al-jabr" 580 years after algebra had been invented.
Likewise, a Greek mathematician named Hipparchus founded trigonometry in 140 BC. Our knowledge of trigonometry was added to by Manelaus, a Greek; Ptolemy, a Babylonian; Arybhata, an Indian; Regiomontanus, a European; Gunter, a European, and so forth. The main role the Muslims played in the developement of trigonometry was the role of translator, helping to reintroduce Greek ideas into Europe and helping expose the Europeans to Indian mathematics.
As for engineering and astronomy, both are thoroughly documented as having existed in ancient cultures around the world, from Egypt to Greece to Rome to China. Neither the pyramids nor the Roman aqueducts were built by chance; it took monumental understanding of engineering to erect such structures. A number of individual star names are Arabic, but all of our modern constellations are Greek in origin. And regardless, all ancient cultures had their own versions of the constellations.
It is true that Muslims built upon the knowledge of other civilizations, but, in spite of the Politically Correct revisions of this video, it is also quite clear that Muslims actually invented very little. For example, it is thoroughly documented that "Arabic" numerals were invented in India--in fact, most modern scholars actually use the correct term Indian numerals now--yet the video claims Indian numerals were invented by Muslims. And such outrageous claims about how advanced the Muslim culture was abound in this video.
For all its building up of the Muslim culture, this video fails to answer the obvious question: What happened? What went wrong? If Islam was so great, how can you explain the sorry state it is in today? Why has nothing of value come out of Islam in the past 500 years? Why did the rest of the world leave Islam so far behind? Why were Galileo and Newton and Einstein and Bohr Europeans and not Muslims? Why did the Enlightenment happen in Europe and America and not in Islamic lands? If Islam was so democratic as the video claims it was, why did the Revolution happen in America and not the Ottoman Empire? While Americans were writing the Constitution, Muslims were still slaving under despots. Why would such supposedly advanced people put up with such atrocious leadership for so long? And why is it that today goods are manufactured in America, Europe and the Far East and not in the Middle East? The only thing of value that comes out of the Middle East today is oil--and that is drilled for using Western equipment. Why do Muslims consistently see the West as their enemy, when in fact they, themselves, are their own worst enemy and their own religion holds them down? Why is it that at every border Muslims share with other religions there is war. Why is the one common ingredient of every interreligious war in the world today--whether it is a war on Jews, Christians, or Hindus--why is that one common ingredient Islam? It is high-time for an Islamic Reformation. It is time for Muslims to learn to live peacefully with their neighbors. This video, with its all-glory-and-no-shame approach to Islam does a disservice to scholarship and to the reputation of PBS. It is too easy to find out facts for yourself in our modern world: Don't lie to me. All that I have just said is easy to find for anyone with half a brain and access to an encyclopedia or even the internet. All you have to do is have the courage to look for yourself and find out the facts, not just what you wish were true, but what really happened. And do your own homework. To quote one of the previous reviewers, this video is "Politically Correct history at its worst".
Rating:
Summary: Very well done, and what distortion?
Review: This was a very well done piece, showing all facts and truth. To those who say Islam was "spread by the sword," well, what about Christianity and Judaism? This was a ruthless time, it wasn't exactly a love-all type of era. The only difference was, and this IS the truth, is that the Muslims showed respect when they did fight. Never tearing down religious places, fighting those who could defend themselves. And why nay-say something you haven't even investigated yourself? That's the disgusting thing, not this video. This isn't the only documentary or article to talk about how Muslims were humble during horrid times. And the facts about advances in knowledge are true as well. In fact, algebra was formed off of an Arabic book known as al jabr, written by an Arab scholar during this time. Do your homework.
Rating:
Summary: Well done Documentry
Review: This is a well-done documentary about the history of Islam. Who ever argued that this document didn't mention this or that part of the Islamic history forgot the fact that the Islamic history is so rich that you can't squeeze in a 160 minutes documentary. It starts describing Islam from its humble beginning till the peak of the Ottoman Empire. And how Islam massively spread from Iberian Peninsula to China with men whom in most of their battles they were outnumbered by their opponents. Who ever claims that Islam was spread by sword ignores the fact that one of the greatest sins in Islam is hypocrisy where you show your faith and hide your disbelieve. And if this was the case how someone will explain why the Mongols who entered the Islamic empire as invaders conversed to Islam at the end?, the sword wasn't in the hand of Muslims at that stage! This is a well-done documentary about the Islamic history in general. And who ever want to learn more about each stage in particular should find an unbiased book about that Era. This documentary only tells you about the fundamental Islamic believe which is the ones of God but doesn't go deep to describ the Islamic ideology and the Islamic practices. I didn't like the acting in the background of the documentary I think it could have been done much better than this. But over all the most important was the information by the commentators. I would recommend this DVD for everyone Muslims or non-Muslims.
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