Islam Empire Of Faith Analysis

Islam: Empire of Faith

Islam: Empire of Faith is a movie that describes the history of Islam, and it's leaders. The purpose of the movie is to teach about the Islamic faith, it's leaders, struggles, history, origin, and even it's conflict with the people of other religions. The movie had lots of information on the culture of the Islamic faith. I had no problems with the context of the movie, however I'm surprised that I hadn't been taught about the Islamic culture before. I found it fascinating, hearing about another culture, especially when I hear more about the Christian faith and it's history. Although I like hearing about the history of Christianity, but I like to watch or read about different religions.

The Islamic faith was originally lead by Muhammad and he introduced it to the then polytheistic tribal region of the Middle East. It was said that Muhammad was visited by a angel, who told him of the one god, Allah. The new monotheistic religion soon spread to include most of the Middle East, spreading into some eastern parts of Europe. This caused the tribal peoples to be more united, as they actually gained a central Mosque called The Dome of the Rock. The tribal people also began to be settled, instead of having a more nomadic lifestyle. The Christians of the time weren't really mentioned in the movie, besides to say that Christians were left

alone. However, they did share a cathedral, which was later bought by the governing Muslims, and they made it completely into a mosque.
Islamic culture is rich with art, knowledge, and literature.

In Baghdad they had the house of wisdom, and the scholars there would translate literature from Greece. Baghdad became a center of learning, medicine, and even trade, as it became a rather important city. Their art usually came in the form of the beautifully gilded palaces and the extravagant paintings on the inside of their mosques. Muslims had beautiful architecture, but were mostly known for their mosques, because of the domes. Common features were large open courtyards, gravity powered fountains, and of course, the gilded features of the larger

mosques.
Several Islamic cities had water purification pools, and they were gravity powered, the water from one pool would pour into the other, and the waste would stay at the bottom. They had innovations for medicine, as they figured out that if you quarantine a sick person they won't get more people sick. Muslims had something similar to a modern hospital with patients in separate rooms, and separate sections of the hospital. Their water fountains were also gravity powered, and a great innovation, as they were rather advanced. Muslims also had several innovations with their language, as it actually changed with outside influence of the different languages the scholars were translating.
Muhammad was the spiritual leader of Islam, and also the founder. He was known as the prophet, as he brought Allah's message to the Muslims. Muhammad was one of the most powerful people other than the chief leader of the time. He changed the world around him, and introduces a whole new era. Saladin was the first sultan of Egypt and Syria. During his military career he conquered most of Syria. His importance was that he expanded the Islamic territory. Suleiman the Magnificent was the tenth sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and he captured Hungary, and several Christian cities of Eastern Europe. His was important for his military success.
I think the movie should be shown again, it gave more information than the book. I enjoyed the movie, although it was occasionally boring. I believe it was educational and worth sitting through as it has lots of information.