Islam: empire of faith

Episode of Series “Empires”.
This three part history of Islam is narrated by Ben Kingsley. In episode 1, “The Messenger”, we are introduced to pre-monotheistic Arab society. In a desert world consisting of warring nomadic tribes, differences were only put aside when the tribes congregated in the holy city of Mecca to worship their individual gods and totems. From this centre of trade and religion, the Prophet Muhammad first began to receive visions from the one God. Though initially exiled by his opponents, Muhammad finds refuge in the oasis of Medina, and there he builds up a strong and loyal following united, for the first time, not by blood but by faith. Having conquered the Meccan forces sent to vanquish him and his followers, Muhammad triumphantly returned to Mecca, smashed the idols and proclaimed his divine message. In episode 2, “The Awakening”, the recording of the Prophet’s vision in the Koran sees the spread of Islam throughout the Arabian peninsula, and then to Persia, India, North African and Southern Europe and the Balkans. The religion leads to a democratisation of society and a flourishing of art, architecture, philosophy and science as the Muslim scholars integrate the thoughts of the ancient Greeks with the philosophy arising from Islam. The Islamic Empire is, however, threatened by the Crusades initiated by the fundamentalist European Christians, and then further dispersed by the massacres and invasions of the Mongol Empire. In episode 3, “The Ottomans”, we see how the Islamic world has been transformed by the Mongol invasion and the Mongols in turn have been transformed by their conversion to Islam. Nomadic tribes from Anatolia, enlisted to combat the Mongols, unite and form the beginning of the Ottoman Empire. One of the world’s largest empires, the Ottomans move into Christian Europe and take as their seat the Byzantine city of Constantinople. From the renamed city, Istanbul, the Ottomans create a flourishing art and culture. The episode concentrates on the career of Suleyman the Magnificent, the most talented, important and fierce of the Ottoman Sultans.