Summary of the Documentary ‘Empire of Faith’

The Documentary Islam : Empire of Faith has three parts ; The Messenger, The awakening, and the
Ottomans. Here is the brief discussion of the documentary by a US based Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS).

If we unfold the history of Islam then we can find out that Islam is one of the oldest civilizations of the
world. The religion is purely based upon Faith. Islam has shaped number of cultures. All this began with
the birth of one single ordinary man, who is the most important person for all the Muslims across the
globe. The message which he conveyed changed the world forever. Today the world knows that
personality by the name of Muhammad (P.B.U.H) who was born in Makkah in or around 570 AD.

Muhammad became orphaned at the age of 6 and then he grew under the supervision of his dear uncle.
Living his life in a tribal place was really crucial for him and it left some deep impressions on him. But the
nature he held made him a son to many. He was born in a desert where apparently the water was so
precious. A place where single well could provoke a blood feud for generations.

People in Makkah had plenty of Gods which they kept in a shrine made of wood, stone and cloth. It was
called Kaaba, Arabic word for cube. The greatest treasure to be found at Makkah was the rich mixture of
cultures. Due to Kaaba Makkah became a vibrant centre for trading. Muhammad became a merchant.
There was this famous woman known for trading. Her name was Khadija Bibi. She was so taken with
Muhammad she sent him a marriage proposal. Prophetic career of Muhammad began when he was 40
years old.

Due to the qualities of just and equality Islam started to spread rapidly. Muhammad spoke the language
of God. He spoke to his people and they started to call him a poet. In Quran Allah (S.W.T) mentioned
that Muhammad is not a poet. Poets speak through desire. This is not the voice of desire. This is the
voice of God. His nature, his words and his actions increased his following and it began to grow. A few
people who were close to Muhammad started to preserve his words. This is how Quran came into being.
Quran was revealed orally but they started to save it in order to make sure it was not corrupted and it’s
originality is maintained.

Many people started to follow him and they called themselves Muslims. On the other side the number
of enemies were also increasing for Muhammad. In 619 he lost his uncle as well his wife Khadija bibi, his
only protector and his first great love. Here at last the opportunity knocked his enemies had been
waiting for.

Yathrib, a place in North invited Muhammad and his people. The town needed a peacemaker. They
heard a lot about Muhammad and they knew he has got some amazing arbitration skills so they invited
him with his people. They thought let’s see if he can help us out. Muhammad’s followers left the land of
their ancestors and moved to Yathrib and there they began a new community. This journey is known as
Hydra.
The enemy’s goal was to wipe out Muslims. Muhammad’s people began to gather arms. They prepared
themselves as much as they could. They were outnumbered and outmatched. They were only 313
people and most of them were old men and boys with few weapons. There were thousand people who
were heavily armed against them. Yet they came armed with a powerful weapon, a passionate belief in
their faiths. Tribes of Bedouin saw God’s hand in Muhammad’s victory. They joined in hands with
Muhammad for his cause and struggle.

During the 7th and 8th centuries a new powerful faith was about to change the world, the faith of Islam.
Muhammad and his followers did not conquer by the sword only but they grew in number by the power
of ideas.

Western culture suggests that it was the Muslims who made the cultural and scientific foundations
strong on which the modern world is based. They believe the scientific age we have today in the world is
because of the Muslim scholars of the middle ages. If today we have the cure to every disease, if we
have great computer skills, if we have a successful industrial environment, it is because of the Muslim
doctors, Muslim mathematicians, Muslim scientists, Muslim engineers and so forth who gave those
things to the West.

By the dawn of the 8th century Islam had extended its reach from Spain to all the way to India. It took
more than two years to travel from the end of the Arab Empire to the other. Later Muslims began to
have the new Islamic science. Muslim scholars built science on a systematic consistent basis where they
made a physical preposition of things which then they matched with the mathematical representations.
Trignometry, physics, Mathematics, medicine, Astronomy, algebra, trigonometry engineering and other
countless disciplines we have in a modern world today trace their roots to Islamic scientists. At time
when Europeans were praying to the bones of their saints and holy people for the cure of their illnesses,
Muslim physicians developed an innovative theory. The studies of anatomy by Muslims were so
sophisticated that they remained in use by Muslim and European physicians for 600 years.

Muslims did not only make their name in the field of medicine and mathematics. They also did wonders
in other fields like craftsmanship, textiles and so forth. Muslim blacksmiths learned how to fold steel to
give it strength and flexibility. The swords Muslims made had no equal in the entire world. The backbone
of strong economy of Muslim world was textiles.

Last of three episodes in the documentary covers the history of the expansionist Ottoman Empire and its
ambitious sultans through the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent. The Sunni Ottoman regime had more
trouble from their rival Safavid Dynasty of Shiite Muslims than from their vanquished Christian subjects.