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Customer Reviews of Living Islam Series

Living Islam
It is well made, and retains viewer interest throughout as Akabar Ahmed ("AA", the narrator) is very articulate. Balanced, it is NOT! I brought the tape home to "educate" my son, and myself. It provides a good tour-de-force of Islam around the globe, and all the good things associated with Islam. But it makes no mention of ANYTHING negative about Islam or Muslims. Everywhere, in Palestine, Scotland, India, Bosnia...the Muslim community is ALWAYS portrayed as nobly struggling against local prejudice and discrimination. EVERYTHING that Muslim communities demand in their "new (and old) homelands" is just and reasonable, and opponents are always being unfair! Every reference to Muslim extremists, terrorists, etc., is prefaced by a pious "so-called." In Jerusalem, AA says that Christians and Jews lived together for centuries under tolerant Muslim rule...but...Israeli rule has brought violence! In India, the Muslims supposedly live in fear of Hindu extremism; no mention of the fact that Islam was introduced into India by the sword, accompanied by the (repeated) destruction and looting of temples and forced conversions. Every demand by any Muslim community, anywhere, is glibly attributed a spiritual yearning to be truly "Islamic." Muslims anywhere should be able to live at variance with long established customs/laws in any country, as long as they claim religious sanction. Any opposition to such demands is characterized as denial of religious freedom. Saudi Arabia forbids the public practice of ANY religion besides Islam, but you won't learn that from this series. Watch these tapes, they ARE educational, but remember they are extremely biased. It is a pity, because just a little, and honest, analysis of the history of Islam and shortcomings in Islamic societies today could have made this a truly good learning tool.

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For those interested in learning about Islam
"Living Islam" is an excellent film series, especially the first three volumes. It is educational and entertaining and I believe it educates people well on the reality of lived Islam. The first tape has an amazing scene of how Islam has spread peacefully in Africa which is 50% Muslim, the second tape has a great scene of a parade in Spain that marks the end of 700 years of peaceful Muslim Moorish rule/beginning of the Spanish Inquisition and how it affects the narrator who is a Muslim. He actually happens to be the current Head of Islamic Studies at American University in DC. The third volume deals with Islamic revivalism in Iran and also has some great moments.

The latter three volumes did not make much of an impact on me and in fact, I felt that the portrayal of women in one of the tapes to be inaccurate and more culturally-based on Arab Islam than on the true spirit of Islam which emphasizes equality, charity and social justice. This series, in general shows how Islam is practiced locally around the world and takes the viewer to many parts of Africa, Asia and Europe. The travels alone make it colorful. It focuses mainly on how Muslims in many parts of the world have adapted Islam to their cultures e.g. shrine worship in Central Asia, Iran and India and folk dances in Africa.

A video that I highly recommend that is even better than this series and shorter (60 min) in demystifying Islam and breaking stereotypes is "Islam in America" by the Christian Science Monitor as it is balanced, interviews kids and adults about Islam, explains that most Muslims are not Arab or live in the Middle East, goes through the 5 Pillars, explains the difference b/w the Nation of Islam and mainstream Islam, the growing trend of Islam in prisons and generally does a fantastic job making Islam understood to an American audience. My high school History class watched the latter and I think that that video single-handedly broke a lot of their previously-held stereotypes. It's a video that should be shown in every classroom in America given 9/11 and also on American tv networks which tend to focus only on extremists who take as negative and narrow an interpretation of Islam as the U.S. media. I also recommend "The Empire of Faith" up to Mehmet in terms of explaining Islamic history. All three videos named above are great in educating viewers with the basics and teaching their viewers valuable info on Islam.

While on the subject, I also recommend the BBC Islam and Middle East website. If you want to understood 9/11, you must understand the history of Palestine and the BBC does a great job of tracing the history through maps. Some points that have not been mentioned in any of the videos are jihad, polygamy, the Prophet Muhammad's example and Muslim headdress and I hope that one day, these misunderstood aspects of Islam will also be analyzed in a balanced form. The Saudi embassy in DC does help in this area as it offers a complimentary pamphlet on "Understanding Islam and the Muslims" which should also be read by every educated person on the planet as it explains Islam as a continuation of Judaism and Christianity and is an excellent source of info on all Islamic beliefs as well as some practices e.g. the misunderstod ones I have mentioned above. I hope that the info I have provided above has helped any person seeking to gain an understanding of Islam many ways of accessing that info and gaining an educated view of Islam as a religion that values peace, equality, charity and social justice.