Inside Islam The History Channel

Welcome to the History Channel's look back

on the 9/11 year

I'm Arthur Kent

The day's terrorist attacks that day

focused America's attention on the Islamic world

Some Americans' first reaction

was to regard all Muslims as enemies

but it was clear to most

that they had to make a distinction

between one of the world's great religions

and the fanatics

who have taken it to a violent extreme

in this programme

we'll take a close look

at the history and beliefs of Islam

its former empires

and how it has evolved to become

the religion it is today

join us now as the History Channel presents

Inside Islam

It is a sound heard around the world

5 times a day

a simple verse in Arabic

summoning the faithful to prayer

calling them to Islam

The word Islam means submission

submission is considered

the straight path to God

what this means is that

our will, all human beings' wills

is being subjugated to the will of God

that is what submission means

accordingly, a Muslim is one who submits to God

everything revolves around God

everything we have

all of our thoughts

ideas

our soul

our body

revolves around God

God is the centre of life

the Arabic words Islam and Muslim

share as their source

a more ancient word

common to Hebrew and other related languages

the word that we greet each other with

is in Hebrew

shalom aleichem

which means peace unto you

in Arabic it's exactly the same

As-salamu alaykum

and I think that's very important

because Islam itself

the very name Islam

comes from a root

which means peace

but many in the west today

would never associate peace with Islam

to them

Islam appears to be

a hostile religion

that gives sanction to violence

and terrorism

after September 11,

it's very difficult to about Islam

as a religion of peace and compassion

when you visualise those

planes flying into the towers

it's very difficult to explain

but recent events are not entirely to blame

for this perception

it is rooted in 1400 years of history

really take a step back and look at the

the major world religions

the ones that have stood the test of time

Islam is the only tradition

that has really ever threaten the

existence of Christianity

since its beginnings in the 7th century

Islam has spread to every corner of the globe

although westerners tend to

think of it as a religion of the middle east

most of its adherents

live half a world away

Indonesia in southeast Asia

is the largest Islamic country

with more than 170 million Muslim citizens

by contrast only 7 million Muslims

live and practise their religion

in the United states

but that number is growing

there are over a thousand mosques

in the United States now

so Islam is not a world religion

that's out there somewhere

but it's very much

a real presence here in the United States as well

like most major religions

Islam is composed of different sects

or orders

that have evolved over the centuries

from the original orthodox tradition

the two largest

are Sunni Islam

and Shia Islam

the Sunni make up 85%

of the world's Muslim population

while the Shia represent about 10%

there are many smaller sects

as well as methods of practice

the mystical Sufis

seek a state of purification

allowing them to focus solely on God

one Sufi order

the Dervishes

spin to attain a state of ecstasy

they say brings them closer to God

though Islam may seem very different

it actually share a majority of beliefs

with the world's other two great monotheistic faiths

Judaism and Christianity

most important is a common faith in the same God

the word "the God" in Arabic is Allah

so any person who speaks Arabic

whether Jew or Christian or Muslim

will say Allah for God

Islam itself regards all three religions

as part of a single tradition

Judaism came first

then Christianity came

then Islam came

and it's just a continuation

and a completion of the same message that

God has been trying to send

to all people throughout time

the Qur'an

the holy text of Islam

specifically refers to Jews and Christians

as fellow people of the book

that book

being the Holy Bible

the Qur'an retells and expands upon

stories of the bible

going back to the creation

the truth that

unites us together

at the first level

is that we all come from the same family

Adam and Eve

Islam also acknowledges as divinely inspired

all the old testament prophets

including Noah, Moses, Joseph, Jacob,

and even David

Americans most of the time

do not realise

how close Islam is

in its fundamental concepts

to Christianity and Judaism

most Americans don't realise for example

that Muslims consider Jesus to be

one of the divinely inspired prophets

Jesus is very very highly venerated

in the Qur'an

he is mentioned by name 93 times

in the Qur'an

but not as divine

and this is a place where

of course Christians and Muslims

clearly separate in to very major issue

as Muslims we don't believe that Jesus is the son of God

we do believe that he was born of a virgin

and of Mary

however we don't believe that

he himself is God

or that he's a son of God

the story of Jesus in the Qur'an

expands upon his life

adding detail

where the Christian gospels are mute

such as

his defence of his mother Mary

before the townspeople of Nazareth

the moment they started suspecting about

the Virgin Mary

Allah says to Mary

you don't speak to them

you point to your son

and let this small baby speak

and defend you

and defend the integrity

and chastity of his mother

and that's what he did

this miracle was not mentioned in the Bible

the Qur'an also differs radically

from Christian belief

in the death and resurrection of Jesus

Jesus was so special

that when his enemies came to crucify him

God lifted jesus to heaven

and so Jesus was never crucified

behold Allah said

oh Jesus I will take Thee

and raise Thee to Myself

and clear Thee of the falsehoods

of those who blaspheme

it is in the chronicle of Abraham

in the book of Genesis

that we find the roots of Islam

in the Bible

Abraham is a highly revered figure in Islam

at every prayer a Muslim prays for Abraham

and his descendents

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

all claim

a common patriarch

in the figure of Abraham

this figure who is depicted

in the book of Genesis as

a kind of monotheist who

breaks away

who is called by God

and moves towards the Promised Land

according to the bible

God told Abraham

that he would make his covenant

with Abraham's son Isaac

born of his wife Sarah

Isaac would become the father of

the Hebrew tribe of Israel

but Abraham had another son

his first born

in the biblical story

Abraham first has a son

via the handmaiden of Sarah

Hagar and the son Ishmael

Sarah gets jealous and doesn't like this

and they are ultimately cast out

sent away by Abraham

Hagar took Ishmael into the wilderness

when their water ran out

the bible says she abandoned the child

to avoid seeing him die of thirst

but God heard the cries of the child

and caused a spring to bubble forth

so that they could drink

God then told Hagar

not to fear

for her son Ishmael