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History and Seerah

BBC Documentary: Islamic History of Europe

Published

The documentary below – An Islamic History of Europe- was originally shown on BBC.

It is NOT my intention, by posting this, to romanticize or to live in the past This documentary – to me – shows that we can learn or reaffirm that we can achieve great things when we reject backwardness, ignorance and tribalism. We can be Muslims, have educational high standards and work with people of other faiths in peace. We don’t have to dump one for the other and I hope that we can draw some inspiration from it and show our children

Part One
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eXHQME6DkA]

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Part Two
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_och2_pOQU]

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Alhamdulillah, we're at over 850 supporters. Help us get to 900 supporters this month. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

17 Comments

17 Comments

  1. Scorpius

    March 18, 2007 at 1:43 PM

    Propaganda of the worst sort.

    Muslims “set down roots here in Spain”

    Next this bizarre Orwellian propagandist will tell us that in the 1930s Nazi “Set down roots” in Poland and France.

  2. ExEx Blogger

    March 18, 2007 at 10:16 PM

    The same reporter did a show on BBC regarding Iran. It was strange to see “hip”, “nose-studded” people live in Tehran.

  3. abu ameerah

    March 19, 2007 at 1:19 AM

    Scorpius…you sound somewhat bitter to be quite honest.

    I doubt the host of this program is an “Orwellian propagandist” …. a Marxist…. or a trade-unionist… for that matter. The “propoganda” that you refer to is nothing more than the truth. Get over it.

  4. ExEx Blogger

    March 19, 2007 at 9:33 AM

    Truth hurts.

    Lalala Dubidubidooo

  5. anonymous

    March 19, 2007 at 3:09 PM

    The video won’t load on my computer for some reason. My computers probably just old and slow, but oh well.
    The phrase “set down roots” I will admit is more of a euphemism for what actually happened:) They did invade and conquer the territory, but to compare that to the Nazis is a bit of a stretch:)

  6. nuqtah

    March 19, 2007 at 5:33 PM

    mr. tariq nelson, care to explain what you mean by ‘tribalism’? I don’t know if you realize that your ethno-centric and clearly biased rants, ranging from persistent self victimization to blaming everything to ‘those immigrants’ does no justice to being Just?

    I’m also not sure (so forgive my assumptions), if you have taken any basic courses in sociology and anthropology? If you had then you would realize that societies function on varied models, depending on their environment, conditions and the cultures that develop. Thus, we have farm-based societies, industrial societies…the resulting culture which develops is indicative of the way the society actually is. Tribal societies are one such example. In many parts of the world ‘tribal traditions’ are an intrinsic part of society’s existence, and without such a structure, those societies are bound to disintegrate.

    Ofcourse, there are practices in tribal societies that you should be abhorred, just like there are things in western that are abhorrent.

    This in no way means that the whole concept of tribalism is backward and something that needs to be shunned. As if you are the epitome of civilaztion! This is a seriously ethno-centric, arrogant, and supermacist take.

    The self-inflicted analysts, [b]atleast [/b]on a website that is dedicated to ‘muslim matters’ (as oppossed to blackmuslim matters or whitemuslim matters or revert muslims etc…), should be fair with their use of words…and grow up

    Barak Allahu feekum.

  7. nuqtah

    March 19, 2007 at 5:33 PM

    should be abhorred*

  8. Amad

    March 19, 2007 at 6:41 PM

    I would urge the respected commentators to maintain mutual respect and humility when responding to each other and to the posters. Our house rules are very clear on personal attacks, so please help us maintain an Islamic quorum inshallah.

    If we want to respond to a post, let’s respond to and about the content, not about the poster. Ad hominem arguments do not help the cause, instead it reduces the argument to futile finger-pointing.

    jazakumAllah khair.

  9. TariqN

    March 19, 2007 at 7:06 PM

    Nuqtah,

    Calm down. In general, when one says ‘tribalism’ they mean something that is blameworthy. When I say “tribalism’, I mean the practice of unjustly preferring one’s tribe over someone else. For example: If one is appointed to a gov’t position, they fill all of the assistant positions with their tribe members regardless of qualification. This is not good for that nation in general. I think most people know exactly what I am referring to here.

    Can you show me specifically where I have blamed everything on “those immigrants” or have engaged in “self victimization”?

    It is funny because I get email telling me that I am far too hard on *African Americans*. Now you are saying the exact opposite.

    The point is that – though we may hate to say it – we all have problems and all of us need to do some self introspection. That involved being truthful with ourselves.

    The great thing about the truth is that if you follow one it will lead to another. On the other hand, lies and wishful thinking lead only to dead ends.

    Until we recognize our problems, we won’t acomplish very much.

  10. Umar

    March 19, 2007 at 8:35 PM

    LOL @ Nuqtah.

  11. ِAbu Bakr

    March 19, 2007 at 8:54 PM

    Personally, brother Tariq, I think most of your critiques of both the African-Americans and the immigrants, are right on. I think that’s why so many find them scathing. Also, many people are only used to seeing things from one side of the coin. You have to be able to understand the perspectives of people on both sides to see how bad certain things may come off to a third party.

  12. nuqtah

    March 19, 2007 at 8:56 PM

    lol jzak Allahu khair for the response, i think i commented based on what i gather from your posts…no offence. And yeah, i tend to be sensational with my words, now and then.

    Thanks for the clarification; your context was not at all clear.

  13. nuqtah

    March 19, 2007 at 9:01 PM

    abu bakr: good thing you commented; my only contention is that the critique seems to be ‘one-sided’ infact. Although, the critique of immigrant community may be valid, however, how the whole ‘immigrant community’ is portrayed as the ‘other’, and painted in one color is not a balanced perspective.

  14. ِAbu Bakr

    March 19, 2007 at 10:39 PM

    As br. Tariq has pointed out, he oftentimes says things which gets the African American brothers riled up too. Those things may perhaps slip under the radar of others because they are not so tuned to the sensitivities of AA to realize the things that they might find offensive. Of course, Br. Tariq is African American himself, and he is human, so no doubt his critiques will be colored by his perspective, but I dont think he intends anything by it except to bring attention to problems that need to be addressed. If he sometimes falls short in the way he does that or errs, we as his brothers should try to help him and correct him.

    Just my two cents…

  15. Tariq Nelson

    March 20, 2007 at 6:51 AM

    Jazak Allah Khair Abu Bakr

  16. Moiez

    March 22, 2007 at 3:41 PM

    Asalaamualaikum,
    Subhanallah, that was great, very intellectual. I love that the ummah was doing so great intellectually and politically and we still are hundreds of muslims that have degrees and vast amounts of knowledge and power are with us now. Today the difference is the credit goes to what ever country they are in, which would be the western countries. We have the people and the experts but not the land or power and those who do are not realy muslims and until then the true muslims are just intellectual people of society.

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