Islam: Empire of Faith

This is a very good documentary and shows the more fair image of Islam not commonly seen in the West, of a religion that was flourished in culture, science, and art. It also shows its more violent parts in history. Nevertheless, I find that it ends all too abruptly and it fails to comment on any contemporary issues about Islam, which I guess would have made this documentary too long.

If you are interested in Islam, find yourself a copy of this and watch as it is entertaining and informative.

Especially at this time, it is necessary for Western audiences to learn more about Islam.

"Islam: Empire of Faith" is quite good. I can't really fault much of its content. However, sadly, the documentary stops in the 16th century!! This does a disservice to Islam and provides absolutely no insight into Islam today and its relations with the rest of the world. What it does cover is from the birth of the religion in the 7th century, the early days of Islam, the Crusades and the final great years of Islam during the reign of Suliman the Great. Throughout the documentary, you hear lots of experts, see lots of video from various great cities, artwork and the like all set to nice music, Ben Kingsley's lovely narration and great polish.

My only complaint, and it's a minor one, is that the film seemed a bit too positive. In other words, instead of a critical look at the religion or Muhammad (which I would also like in a film about Christianity or Buddhism), it's mostly a glowing portrait. The only exception is that it talked about the crazy Egyptian who rules over Jerusalem and helped to spur on the Crusades (and this is the only documentary about the Crusades I've seen that talks about this). Still, it's well made and worth seeing even if a bit incomplete.

This is the first documentary that is fair to Islam and the Muslims. It is strongly recommended for anyone who lives in the West, particularly in the USA, and is skeptical of the propaganda that is constantly spread by the current U.S. administration and certain special-interest think tanks and groups.

If you are curious about Islam, and one of those who listen with a critical ear, this is a movie for you to watch. It is a first rate production that describes the faith accurately and recounts history as it was. It is also well crafted, with a beautiful cinematography, an excellent narration and a stunning display of art and architecture. Yes, it is missing a few things, but I don't believe anyone could have done a better job in trying to recount 1400 years of history in two hours.

Every human with a bit of intelligence combined with objectivity will appreciate what was revealed by this documentary. Watch it and search for the rest if not satisfied. There are some things which are not mentioned in the documentary about Islamic civilization at all. For instance, it does not talk about stars named with Arabic names in the first observatory founded by Muslims. This documentary mostly only sketches the Islamic civilization and it does a very good job with that considering the existence of those ignorant people asking "Do Muslim's believe in God?". It is sad but definitely there are lots of people who will benefit a lot from even 10 minutes of this documentary. It was shocking for me to realize the pilgrims' visits which could be considered as a kind of globalization achieved peacefully so many years ago.

Islam Empire of Faith is about the political side of the religion of Islam. Great leaders of every nation and period practiced some form of religion, but many of these pseudo documentaries tend to bring the religion to the forefront rather than the politics of the era. Case in point, Americans wouldn't call Franklin Delano Roosevelt a great Christian leader. FDR is simply a great leader that practiced Christianity. I was hoping to learn more about the religion itself. In the end, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe in the same God, but kill each other in the name of that same God. I don't think that this is really what God had intended so it must be the people who pervert the religion; it is more a sin to conquer in the name of God than it is righteous. Most religions would have you believe that their spread is bloodless, but this is rarely the case. Changing people's beliefs is the hardest thing to accomplish without exercising some kind of force. It is always good to get every side of historical events, so this definitely has some value.