Comprehensive Analysis of Islamic History PBS Documentary Report

This report analyzes the PBS documentary 'Islam: Empire of Faith,' which provides a detailed overview of Islamic history. The documentary, divided into three parts, explores the rise of Islam, the life of Prophet Muhammad, and the expansion of the Islamic empire, including the Ottoman Empire. It covers significant contributions in science, art, and architecture, while also touching upon the Crusades and Mongol invasions. The report summarizes each segment of the documentary, highlighting key events, figures, and the impact of Islamic philosophy. The report also acknowledges some shortcomings, such as the documentary's critical tone towards Europe during the Dark Ages. Overall, the report concludes that the documentary is a valuable resource for understanding the history of Islam and its influence on the world, especially concerning the Islamic world's contributions to medicine, art, learning, science, philosophy and trade.

Running head: ISLAMIC HISTORY
Islamic History
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1ISLAMIC HISTORY
“Islam Empire of Faith PBS Documentary” is a short documentary of 2hours 40
minutes 04 seconds, by Bryn Williams (Williams 2019). It was published in the year 2019
and is based on a detailed history of Islam, right from the birth of Prophet Muhammad, the
Islamic Prophet to the Ottoman Empire. It has well-balanced and presented accurate
overview of the contributions of Muslim throughout the historic times. The documentary has
also gained much positive reviews from a range of community leaders and Islamic scholars.
This paper shall elaborate on presenting a summary of the very documentary while describing
the main points and the important details of the piece.
It is to mention that the documentary is divided into three parts. It is a vast history of
the rise and spread of Islam as well as the empire that it once established, the Ottoman
Empire, that stretched from Morocco and Spain in the West to China in the East. The first
one hour of the video is elaborated on the story of the rise of Islam and the exceptional life of
Prophet Muhammad as well as the tenets on which he had found the philosophy of Islam and
the religion. It is covered with the revelation of the Quran, the first ever mosques, the
persecution that was suffered by the early Muslims and finally the rapid expansion of the
Islamic religion world-wide (Williams 2019). It has detailed the successes and struggles of
them in coming together through their force of faith and will while establishing an inclusive,
ethical and compassionate way of life in the cruel and selfish establishment. With the same, it
has detailed about the significance of the revered people and the attitudes towards them. One
can easily gain a good idea about the importance of words in the pre-Islamic Arabia, the
reasons behind why the phrases and words of Quran are of such great importance for
Muslims and the reason behind why Prophet Muhammad is often represented in images only.
The image of Kaaba at Mecca depicts that there is no more stronger and powerful image to be
had than imagining thousands of people from different parts of the world, all of them

2ISLAMIC HISTORY
focusing together on the betterment of humanity while facing the centre of a global circle at
the same time.
The second segment of the video has examined the rise and growth of the Islamic
religion into the world civilisation. It has been revealed that by means of learning and trade,
the Islamic influence was extended and spread further. The early Muslims made great
contributions and achievements in the fields of science, art and architecture that further
influenced the intellectual development of the Westerners. This segment of the video also
explored the story of crusades, caliphates and the Mongol invasion, including the re-
enactments that were filmed in the Iran. Finally, the third part of the video, which dealt with
the Ottomans, explored about the dramatic rise and downfall of the famous Ottoman Empire
(Williams 2019). The very first part of the documentary deals with the life and story of
Prophet Muhammad, the second deals with the early Caliphates, Crusades and the invasion of
Mongol and finally, the third one deal with the Safavid dynasty and the Ottoman Empire.
These altogether covers more than thousand years of the culture and history of Island, with
special focus on the roles played by Muslims in the field of trade, medicine, science, learning,
philosophy and art. However, there are certain weak points in the documentary. With the
same, the documentary repeatedly throws some irrelevant pointed and uncompassionate barbs
at the Dark Ages’ Europe. Also, there seems to be an edge of mockery in the tone of
documentary at some points, which is not required in such a well-balanced account of Islamic
Empire.
Hence, from the above analysis it is to conclude that Islam Empire of Faith PBS
Documentary is a great document for learning about Islam. It is divided into three parts and
covers about 1000years of the Islamic history. The first is that it is focused on educated,
peaceful and industrious centre of the Ottoman Empire while glossing over the wars that are
waged at its borders. The whole documentary has highlighted the contributions of medicine,

3ISLAMIC HISTORY
art, learning, science, philosophy and trade. It has also very cleverly connected and compared
the Islamic philosophy with the famous notion or idea of social justice that places the Islamic
way of life very strongly in the modern and world-wide context.

4ISLAMIC HISTORY
References:
Williams, B., 2019. Islam Empire Of Faith PBS Documentary. [online] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CgLpjn9B9M [Accessed 11 April 2020].