Did anyone watch this last night on BBC2?
I think it was beautifully made…and presented well by Rageh omar.
He was really emotional when he just outside the cave Hira.
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
Yes, I thought it was good that it was not a one sided affair. He interviewed christians and Jewish figures too which gives it a lot more weight. I just wish imams of local mosques in the UK are not interviewed because frankly I dont consider them authority on Islam and they are not articulate enough to impress the non muslims. I really like Karen Armstrong. Her books on the Prophet (pbuh) are worth reading too.
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
The Imams that were interviewed were not your typical firebrand Imams and seemed well educated and got their points across well.
Im not a fan of Karen Armstrong but at least shes better than Yasmin Alibhai brown!!!!
Looking forward to ep2 now!
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
is it available on iplayer or yt?
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
^ It is but its not available in my area :( I wanna seeeee...
Edit: Found some uploads on youtube =D Search for "the life of muhammad" and then display the results by upload date. I'll watch and report back.
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
^i think that one is an old documentary...not sure, might be the new one.
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
^ Nope, t’is the new one. Here you go:
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
^thanks...will watch it tonight inshallah.
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
Ok the link I gave above isn’t working any more, the account has been terminated. Here is another link, the full 60 minute episode: http://youtu.be/ZfRgy1aWJks
Some comments:
The start was a bit slow. In the first 25 minutes, they had only gotten to the part of Prophet saw’s marriage to Hazrat Khadeeja ra. May be I found it a little dragged on because I already know this bit of the history, may be it was good and detailed enough for those who don’t.
As someone already said above, I liked how non-muslim historians/scholars/professors were also interviewed. Tom Holland (a historian), in particular, stood out to me as a subtle critic. On the basis of whatever history sources he’s been studying, he claimed Makkah wasn’t a happening place, wasn’t the centre of trade as it is portrayed in Islamic history, muslims just exaggerated the importance of the city since it was the birth place of their prophet. He also disagreed with the belief that Prophet saw was illiterate. He claims muslims made that up to avoid allegations that Mohammad saw read and copied stuff from Christian and Jewish faiths and this is exactly why He is also placed in Makkah, in the middle of the desert, by muslims because it was far away from where all these faiths were being practised. He was like the Quran says the opposite to what the Islamic tradition says about his illiteracy but he doesn’t give any references? Where does the Quran say Prophet saw could read and write? Professor Green then provided references where it was clearly mentioned in the Quran that Prophet saw was in fact illiterate.
So yeah, check your facts buddy. He *was *illiterate. And we didn’t place him in Makkah, he was born there, as written in thousands of muslim and non-muslim historic accounts alike. Why would we need to avoid allegations that Islam is inspired by Christianity and Judaism since we clearly accept the former prophets and the books as revealed to them by the very same God. So duhh …
I like how they separate Islam from the muslim societies. For example, when they’re talking about Hazrat Khadeeja ra, they make a point that many modern muslim societies today fail to give their women the rights that Khadeeja had centuries ago. When they talk about the Danish cartoons and the Salman Rushdie’s book incidents, they differentiate between the reaction of the modern muslims to this hatred and the reaction of the Prophet saw and his followers to not only the hatred but torture and persecution back in the day. They were tolerant, quiet and peaceful, we aren’t.
This episode didn’t focus too much on the actual message. I think they should have talked about what Prophet Mohammad saw actually preached i.e. equality, justice, peace etc because people today don’t have a freakin clue about who he was and what his basic message was. They talked more about how his message was received, the difficulties that muslims had to face, the violence that has broken out between muslims and non-muslims over the years.
This episode ends on the death of Abu Talib and the persecution of Prophet Mohammad saw from Makkah. Looking forward to the next episode which will be more about the battles that muslims had to fight.
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
I haven't watched it yet but had it recorded. From the comments i'm guessing it's not your typical anti islam propaganda which makes for a nice change! Maybe it will clear up the misconceptions many non muslims have about the prophet (pbuh).
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
Very well put together. I know a few people who refused to watch it as it was written by kafir but you can't please everyone.
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and agree with all of the comments above!
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
Maybe it will clear up the misconceptions many non muslims have about the prophet (pbuh).
You wish. :)
I've read some reviews of the documentary, e.g. on telegraph, and the comments are as ignorant as they have always been. Some referred to Prophet saw as "a mentally ill man" Astaghfirullah. Let me guess, these geniuses didn't even watch the documentary because it wasn't worth 60 precious minutes of their life. The ignorance is so widespread and so deep-rooted that one documentary alone isn't going to do anything about it unless someone really educates themselves from reliable sources. This documentary to them is an attempt by "the death cultists to justify themselves".
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
There were inaccuracies from a Muslim's point of view but it was still a pretty good effort and very refreshing to see something positive about Islam, I like that they brought up Salman Rushdie and also the rebuttal against it and I liked that they clarified that Islam does not by any means condone violence, so overall it was pretty good. At least it attempts to give the Islamic perspective, we'll have to see the rest of it to see if it succeeds to do so :)
I like how they separate Islam from the muslim societies. For example, when they're talking about Hazrat Khadeeja ra, they make a point that many modern muslim societies today fail to give their women the rights that Khadeeja had centuries ago. When they talk about the Danish cartoons and the Salman Rushdie's book incidents, they differentiate between the reaction of the modern muslims to this hatred and the reaction of the Prophet saw and his followers to not only the hatred but torture and persecution back in the day. They were tolerant, quiet and peaceful, we aren't.
This episode didn't focus too much on the actual message. I think they should have talked about what Prophet Mohammad saw actually preached i.e. equality, justice, peace etc because people today don't have a freakin clue about who he was and what his basic message was. They talked more about how his message was received, the difficulties that muslims had to face, the violence that has broken out between muslims and non-muslims over the years.
Agreed, that was by far the best part of it, it wasn't about the behaviour of Muslims rather what Islam teaches, I liked that about it.
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
You wish. :)
I've read some reviews of the documentary, e.g. on telegraph, and the comments are as ignorant as they have always been. Some referred to Prophet saw as "a mentally ill man" Astaghfirullah. Let me guess, these geniuses didn't even watch the documentary because it wasn't worth 60 precious minutes of their life. The ignorance is so widespread and so deep-rooted that one documentary alone isn't going to do anything about it unless someone really educates themselves from reliable sources. This documentary to them is an attempt by "the death cultists to justify themselves".
Ah well, I live in hope!
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
what did people make of todays episode??
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
not seen it yet...will catch up tonight!!!
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
Episode 2:
Seems to be pretty controversional judging from the comments I’ve read about it so far from muslims and non-muslims alike. I haven’t seen it myself. Will do this evening.
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
To be honest, I don't like it, there are many flaws in the description, for example, the marriage of Messenger of God (SAW) with Syedina Zayd (ra)'s ex-wife wasn't portrayed in a right manner. No one objected to that marriage except the Jews of that time but in the documentary it said everyone objected to this marriage.
And it doesn't explain the reason which is that Zainab (ra) wasn't happy in marriage with Zayd (ra) because she (ra) fell in love with the Prophet (saw) so the verses were revealed ordering Prophet (SAW) to marry Zainab (ra)....there were obviously other hikma as well like making the marriage with adopted son or daughter's ex permissible which was unlawful in Judaism.
Re: The life of Muhammed on the BBC!
It seemed that there was every attempt to diminish the miracle in the man (SAW) and every attempt to focus on his worldly position ... They call it the "real story" as if by being shy of the various miracles in his (SAW)'s life just so it is palatable to the west is better ... They failed big time to show him as the most "beautiful" the most "beloved" the most "merciful" ... They portrayed him as the "creator" of the Qur'an and they say in the beginning that the legacy of Islam is "its architecture" as if that is all ot offered !!!
It is artfully made to be totally un-dawah like - there was no attempt to show "his (SAW) authenticity" in his claim for prophethood.
But then again what would you expect from the BBC?