Islam: The Untold Story (2012)

Directed by

Tom Holland

Genre

documentary film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 14m

Rating

7.6 of 10 from 5 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary examines the origins of Islam, questioning the traditional story. It argues that there is little hard evidence for how the faith began. The film is presented by historian Tom Holland, who discusses theories from other scholars.

questioninginvestigativescholarlyprovocativerestrainedcerebralanalyticalneutral-tonedmeasured

What happens

Islam: The Untold Story is a documentary film written and directed by Kevin Sim and presented by the English novelist and popular historian Tom Holland. The documentary explores the origins of Islam, an Abrahamic religion that developed in Arabia in the 7th century and criticises the orthodox Islamic account of this history, claiming that the traditional story lacks sufficient supporting evidence. It was commissioned by the British television company Channel 4 and first broadcast in August 2012. Its release followed the publication of Holland's In the Shadow of the Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World (2012), which also discussed the rise of the Arab Empire and the origins of Islam. Adopting the theories of the academic historian Patricia Crone as a basis, Holland claimed there was little hard evidence for the origins of Islam and asked why it took several decades after the death of Muhammad for his name to appear on surviving documents or artifacts. Arguing that there was little evidence for how the faith was born, he suggested that the city of Mecca may not have been the real birthplace of Muhammad and Islam. While not disputing Muhammad's existence as a real historical figure, he posited that much of the Islamic origin myth was developed later, in the early years of the Arab Empire. The documentary proved controversial. Mainstream media reception was mixed, but it provoked criticism from figures within the United Kingdom's Islamic community who argued that Holland ignored evidence supporting the orthodox account of early Islamic history. Government-approved regulatory authority Ofcom and the broadcaster Channel 4 received an estimated 1200 complaints regarding the program. Fearing violent retaliation from militant Muslims, Channel 4 cancelled a public screening of the documentary at their London headquarters. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• Science and Islam
• The Life of Muhammad (2011)
• Islam: Empire of Faith (2000)
• The Nazi Gospels (2012)
• My Brother the Islamist (2011)
• The Sword of Islam (1987)
• Inside Islam (2002)
• The Dark Ages: An Age of Light (2012)