I wonder if PBS would dare give a skeptical view of Mohammed? They don’t hesitate to give non-Christian’s views of Christ. Fact is that there are no non-islamic historical sources for the events of Mohammed’s life.
[continued from my last post above]
Organization
Nothing is mentioned of the fact that Islam lacks a central authority to prevent its scripture from being perverted. There is no Magisterium equivalent to keep the Koran’s core principles intact while teaching how current understanding has changed and how the principles apply today. This lack of a central teaching authority has left Islam open to being “hijacked” by radicals [as we are constantly told]: anyone, even a non-cleric like Osama bin Laden, can declare a “holy war,” and no one asks what his authority is. It also prevents Islam from leaving the seventh century and entering the modern world.
Shar’ia
Islamic holy law – shar’ia – is mentioned as a legal system and lifestyle all rolled up into one. " . . . Bernard Lewis says, ‘In an Islamic state, there is in principle no law other than the shar’ia, the Holy Law of Islam.’ Elsewhere, he states, ‘There is, for example, no distinction between canon law and civil law, between the law of the church and the law of the state, crucial in Christian history. There is only a single law, the shar’ia, accepted by Muslims as of divine origin and regulating all aspects of human life: civil, commercial, criminal, constitutional, as well as matters more specifically concerned with religion in the limited, Christian sense of that word.’ Lewis adds: ‘The principal function of the Islamic state and society was to maintain and enforce these rules’ and that ‘the idea that any group of persons, any kind of activities, or any part of human life is in any sense outside the scope of religious law and jurisdiction
is alien to muslim thought.’ . . .
What aspects of shar’ia do most world history textbooks [and this DVD] fail to convey? That
the islamic state is an agent of religion. Civil society, separation of church and state, limited government, an independent judiciary, and the underlying notions of personal liberty and individual freedom, notably freedom of religion, are alien concepts. So are such items as due process, trial by jury, and chartered protection."[3] [Emphasis added]
Islam and Women
“What is missing from world history textbooks [and this DVD]? That Muslim women today are seen by many men to be not much more than chattel; that, for these men, women are fit to be servants and breeders; and that a wife’s autonomy is interpreted as a sign of female disobedience and disrespect.”[4]
Islam and Slavery
This documentary mentions slavery under Islam only tangentially. During Islam’s “golden age”, it states, some young Christian boys were taken captive (presumably by a conquering army) and educated into Islam. They were raised, not in foster homes with a foster father and mother, but in what amounts to a boarding school, with the idea that they would enter a leadership position in adulthood. A male child raised in such a love-starved environment is a disaster waiting to happen. He becomes mercilessly cruel, which was probably the goal all along. Of course, none of this is explored.
“As in Greece and Rome, slavery was a common institution in the cities of the Muslim world. Slaves were brought from conquered lands in Spain, Greece, Africa, India, and Central Asia. Muslims could not be enslaved. If non-Muslim slaves converted to Islam, they did not automatically gain their freedom, but their children did. A female slave who married her owner also gained freedom. . . . non-Muslim girls from Eastern Europe were brought to serve as slaves in wealthy Muslim households. There, they might be accepted as members of the households. Some of the enslaved girls were freed after the death of their masters”[ibid.]
It is common knowledge that slavery exists and is legal under Islam to this day.
Conclusion
I suspect this DVD was modulated by some Islamic public relations group or other to emphasize the positive and eliminate the negative aspects of Islam. As a cartoon is a visual experience for children, so
Islam: Empire of Faith, like so many “documentaries” today, is little more than a visual experience for adults and should be treated as entertainment, not a source of objective knowledge.
So much for PBS as an educational institution.
Notes:
[1] Thomas F. Madden, “The Real History of the Crusades”, April, 2002
catholiceducation.org/articles/history/world/wh0055.html
[2] Professor Moshe Sharon, “The Agenda of Islam – A War Between Civilizations”,
freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1064285/posts
[3] Andrew G. Bostom, “The Legacy of Jihad in Historical Palestine (Part I)”, November 19th, 2005
americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=4999
[4] Gilbert T. Sewall, “Islam And The Textbooks: A Report of the American Textbook Council”, 2003
historytextbooks.org/reports.htm
