Why is the BBC spending taxpayers’ money to perpetuate the fairy tale of a golden age of Islam? Why is the Beeb peddling a PC myth that is skewed and reductionist at best and ideologically freighted and erroneous at worst?
The BBC’s re-creation of the Middle Ages depicts Cordoba in Muslim Spain with ‘street lighting and running water.’ In contrast Londoners ‘lived in timber-framed houses and used the river as their sewer.’ ‘Muslims were going to beauty parlours, using deodorants and drinking from glasses, at a time when English books of behaviour were still telling page-boys not to pick their nose over their food, spit on the table, or throw uneaten food onto the floor,’ says Auntie, brainwashing school children in her history lessons.
The West was in the gutter while the Muslim world was bathing in perfume. That’s right, says the BBC. Islamic civilisation extricated Europe from the Dark Ages and brought her kicking and screaming into the Enlightenment. Is the Beeb telling us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? From Conservative Woman
Ever think the BBC would piss on you from on high and tell you it’s raining? Well they may not be giving you golden showers but they are showering us with a load of old bull with their narrative about the ‘Golden Age of Islamic Science’…yet again.
Melvyn Bragg was pushing the narrative on ‘In Our Time’ which has become very political with subjects so often chosen to be lessons or warnings from history paralleling events today from which we must learn.
Bragg introduced the programme with the thought that Islam and the Koran were the driving forces behind the urge to learn during the ‘Golden Age’. However, Jim Al Khalili, not a Muslim, disagreed and put a spanner in the works as he said that actually until the Abbasid rule there was no rush to learn and that it was in fact the Abbasid’s obsession with the Persians and their long tradition of learning and scholarship that influenced Muslim era scholars. Amused to hear Bragg immediately jump in and suggest to Al Khalili that surely Islam and the Koran demanded Muslims learn…I can imagine Bragg silently urging Al Khalili to keep to the narrative….which he then obediently reverted to before going back and saying no, really it was the Persian thing which did it.
Bragg tells us that the Koran and Hadith impress upon Muslims the need to learn….and indeed they do but not in the way Bragg is claiming…as an intellectual knowledge of the world. It is religious knowledge of the Koran and its commands that is necessary for Muslims to learn….that is why non-Muslims are described as ‘ignorant cattle’ because they have no knowledge of Allah.
When the Koran commands you to read it means read the Koran not the Encyclopedia Brittanica…
The Holy Quran is a divine book in which Allah (s.w.t) has blessed us with a complete code of conduct. Quran includes every aspect of life which a person needs to know about. The best of all education in this world is Qur’an and acquiring it is mandatory for every human being. It is the primary and highly signified learning which is solution to all problems and issues of our life. Learning Quran is a full time benefiting and comforting work which is worth doing.
Quran learning is a very noble act, which should be performed by every Muslim man and woman. It gives him/her knowledge about all aspects of life, brings near to the Creator, and will be a proof of the rewards of his/her good deeds on the Day of Judgment.
Quran learning is equally mandatory on Muslim men and women.
The benefits of Quran learning are unlimited with primary benefit of guidance towards the straight path.
Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists).He has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood). Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous. Who has taught (the writing) by the pen. He has taught man that which he knew not” [al-‘Alaq 96:1-5]
We learn this from a Hadith that best of all are those who are associated with Quran(by learning it and imparting its beneficial knowledge) as RasulUllah(s.a.w) said:
“The best of you is he who learnt the Holy Quran and taught it to others.” (Bukhari)
Just the usual pro-Islam propaganda from the BBC. More post-truth ignorance and fake news.
“Why is the BBC spending taxpayers’ money to perpetuate the fairy tale of a golden age of Islam? Why is the Beeb peddling a PC myth that is skewed and reductionist at best and ideologically freighted and erroneous at worst?”
That would be propaganda.
Tucking away the French riots after delaying as long as possible?
That would be censorship.
“Could some might say that the BBC has lost its marbles? Sources close to Who Towers suggest so”.
I think it was David Starkey who said that there is nothing published which is worth reading in Islam for the last 500 years.
Just about sums up this fairy tale.
I was taught that any science inherited by the West from Islam, was 2,500 year old Greek science, lost by the Romans and Christians.
and translated by Greek speaking Christians.
Here is an truly excellent potted history of Islam by the wonderful Brigitte Gabriel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guXBTgAxhIw
You ask why the BBC is spending tax payers money proselytising on behalf of Islam. The answer is that the BBC, in common with all liberal left globalists , live in cloud cuckoo land where everyone is a warm hearted , peace loving citizen of the world with no religious or national divides , no hate , only love. A child’s fairy tale in which the evil witch is anyone who points out that this is indeed a fairy tale and a highly dangerous one at that. Perversely if you want to play the BBC evil witch in panto , you have to white, POCs need not apply.
The BBC et al believe in this fairy tale with the zeal of religious fanatics. This allows them to disregard the overwhelming evidence that Islam is the antithesis of their fairy tale , indeed one need look further than this perversion of a religion to find the true witch in the story.
If these childish adults don’t wake up soon they will discover that the sequel to their fairy tale is a real horror story that we are all condemned to live.
I am sure it is their (BBC) hate of all things which ‘Britain’, her heritage and history stand for rather than a true belief in the myth the ‘Religion of Peace’.
This is not the first time that Bragg has used In Our Time to showcase the concept that Islam was a civilising force in the early Middle Ages . Why the BBC should hammer away at this theme can only be explained as pro Islam propaganda. Yes the Arabs did make advances in mathematics but the reasons for this and their generally higher standard of civilisation than the West for some centuries, was essentially that they took over bulk of the eastern Roman Empire in the seventh century. The Eastern Empire was much more prosperous than the West and was more culturally advanced. However the Arabs dissipated this inheritance, examples being the disruption of trade in the Mediterranean and the desertification of previously fertile agricultural areas. There is evidence that the post Roman west stayed recognisably classical for a while and it’s civilisation would have recovered much more quickly had links with The Eastern Mediterranean been preserved. The Arab invasions put a stop to this.
Yes, and the Arabs took their mathematics from the Hindus. Nothing wrong with that but don’t pretend that it was an achievement by the Arabs and Islam, they took what they knew about mathematics from the Greeks and Hindus.
Most if not all of the advances were not advances at all, but what Byzantines were practicing – Christians for the most part, and Jews.
Yes EE-not the first time.
Yet we`ve long seen what the BBC are doing..and, thanks to all our friends at this site-we can discern, judge-and pre-empt what it is the BBC are trying to do 24/7.
So-I noted
a) the glossing over re “The Alexandria Library”-this happened twice, they HAD to mention it seeing as it was a towering achievement of Greek culture in all things scientific, reasoned and mathematical, philosophical.
LESS was said re what the Islamic hordes did to it…and that the “theologians” in the camp expressly wanted all things removed that were not “Allahcentric”.
b) The mythical “House of Wisdom” in Baghdad-even Al Khalili failed to back this one, he KNEW what the consequences would be…this is the “Muhammad Horse in Jerusalem flying” moment. Not flying-thrown off a minaret for being gay, poor horse I`d say.
c) Mentions of all “archaeological evidence” for anything said to puff up Islam seems not to be there-notwithstanding the Muslim tendency to bury everything under a gaudy shopping mall or car park-it begs the question why Islam would rather we NOT apply Greek reason to their supposed history.
When the likes of Tom Holland get warned off giving evidence for why no Korans exist in the battlefields of those times…think we can GUESS why Islam would rather we not dig too deep.
Unless it`s to put a woman in to stone her after Friday prayers.
Bragg…a proper Puffing Billy when Islam crops up-might be better if he stuck to Faerie Queens, or the rise of Carleton-Greene.
This is not the first time this has occurred with Bragg on ‘In Our Time’. I remember some years ago he was pontificating about the flow of Grecian knowledge to the west due to Islamic scholarship. It was pointed out to him by a guest on the program that this knowledge was brought to the west by Christian refugees after the fall of Constantinople who were fleeing the Muslim invader.
Yes , yes. But had it not been for Islam conquering Byzantine, and ethnically cleansing Christians, this knowledge would not have got to the West.
Yes, I thought the House of Wisdom altercation(s) (I think it came up more than once with Bragg attempting to breathe life into it after being rebuffed once, but I could be wrong) served a useful purpose, in exposing the motivated reasoning that often occurs, but whose real nature is only revealed when it is resisted. The persistence in patching up a threadbare trope is a sure sign of ulterior, ‘greater good’ thinking.
I enjoyed the programme, but was left with the impression that there was much less in the way of ‘Islamic’ achievement to celebrate, and a lot more of the colossal cultural heritage on which it was allegedly built, than we had been led to believe.
I was left to consider the common treatment of, say, Copernicus or Galileo, as scientific luminaries struggling against a background religious culture which was at best indifferent to science and mathematics, and at worst downright hostile, if its own interests might be affected. It might have been more interesting if this orientation to the story of those Persian scholars had been explored, even tentatively – their activities and interests were so evidently held in some ambiguity within their cultural context, so maybe they were just better at steering their way through the intrigue and power-politics of the Abbasid court than others, who we might have lost sight of, simply because they were disapproved of and swallowed up by their own establishment? We cannot know, of course, but it is an interesting thought and does illustrate the varied standards and orientations of our contemporary scholarship when applied to loaded historical contexts.
Let’s not forget that this historical revision is offensive on the level that it spits on the mass-graves of our beheaded ancestors. Their lives taken, culture robbed & appropriated. And blessed with approval by the treacherous BBC. It’s gut-wrenchingly offensive.
PC is built on enforced ignorance like all fanatical and intolerant creeds.
“Why is the BBC spending taxpayers’ money to perpetuate the fairy tale of a golden age of Islam?”
In my opinion, Islam doesn’t even deserve a second consideration!
I wish that someone within those secular left BBC elites would risk it by doing a bit of research and ask one of its many muslim employees this simple question:
why does Islam (the religion of truth) omit Isaac for Ishmael in (Gen 22:2)? There can only be one answer – a clear case of lying. If you happen to be a Muslim why don’t you go and check it out!
So, why on earth would anyone want to believe in a faith where the author switched Holy Scripture. Andf the idea that muslims expect us non-muslims to swallow what they say re the Qur’an being the very words of their god is simply laughable!
Besides that, surely Muslims are actually pagan in their practice of using magical carpets to kneel on while praying to their “unknown god” who dwells in the middle east somewhere .
I’m sorry I missed out on this enlightening program. I wonder, did it mention that Christians and Jews (dhimmis) had to pay an annual tax (jizyah)? Or that dhimmis were considered so unclean that a good muslim must wash after coming into contact with one or that dhimmis had to display a mark to identify them as such?
One word sums up the liberal attitude- fear.
Fear of us when we really get annoyed by their betrayal of our civilisation and fear of resurgent Islam .
I do not even think they believe their rubbish themselves.
If there is a plus side, she is not with Jon Sopel…
Well, geographically.
I listened and although near the start it seemed to be heading that way “golden age of Islam” etc. actually the prog changed direction and didn’t push it.
It was not the glorification that the blurb led you to expect.
Will bbc report the Met chief’s plea to Muslim scholars ?
“Do your bit to combat terror, Met chief tells Muslim scholars”
Since islam is a cult built on violence, terror, rape and looting, that might be a bit tricky. Nice try, Sir Bernard, but sadly you come across as a spineless dhimmi quisling.
Its not his fault that he has been bamboozled by the continuous propaganda lie of the BBC, and the media. He is just a cop. You cant really hold him responsible.
NCBBC – No sympathy for Sir Bernard Hogwash How – In his position he would have all the information he needs such as racial breakdowns and crimes, large percentage of muslim prisoners etc.
I am afraid just like many politicians and judiciary in Scandanavia any loyalty to his country does not extend past his paycheck and pension pot. Like many of our political elite short term self interest rules the day and he mistakes keeping the peace for “keeping stumm”
It is interesting that (though probably too late to save Sweden) – it was not until the retiring policemen opened up about what is happening there that people have started to wake up.
As for pleading for Muslim scholars doing more to challenge terrorism – Why should they. They are only interpreting the Koran the way it was meant to be understood. Islam is furthered by Jihad! There is no such a thing as moderate Islam just as there is no such thing as “soft brexit”
It is at this point that I agree with ISIS. There is only one Islam and the finger says it all!
I suppose he will make lots of noises about talking to the MCB but as I am sure he knows this organisation is no more than a one stop shop for special pleading, complaints about “hate crime” and weasel words whilst the likes of Choudry and co get on with all the real “heavy lifting”! (thanks for the expression Justin)
Sorry Bernard you are no more than just another collaborator and we all know it and you probably know this most of all. If you are unlucky you will go down in history as just another technician just doing his job. If you are lucky you will just be forgotten. As will the rest of judeo christian society if the likes of you do not start caring for your country.
You are right Oaknash. But I do feel for this generation of officials. Caught between loyalty to their duty and humanity, or to their political masters, and being fired. They have chose the easy path.
The worst of the lot were the Chief Constables who turned a blind eye to the plaintive cries of the tens of thousand of young girls brutally gang raped by Muslims.
There is really no instance in history where authority have turned against their own children. Even Quisling came no where near.
I really fear for the West. First off, Bill Clinton has stated that he looks forward to a non-White America. Both of them are Alinsky type communists. If Hillary Clinton had become POTUS , there would have been massive Muslim immigration to the USA, forever changing the culture of the USA. As America is also the prime defender of the West, Europe too will sink under massive immigration
Europe is in peril . Turkey’s Erdogan is threatening to release millions of Muslims into Europe, unless Turks are granted visa free entry to Europe. If the EU, that is Germany acquiesces, then not only 80 million Turks, but all Muslims in that region, will instantly acquire Turkish ID. Within a decade, Europe will have vanished, even as a post-Christendom continent.
If Europe comes under Sharia, quite democratically in the next 40 to 50 years, then the persecution of Christians, Jews and non- Muslims will start. Forget all the Taqiyya lies, Its a matter of what the Koran demands. Killing non- Muslims is legal. They are not innocent by definition of being non-Muslims. So when Muslims tell you that killing innocents is illegal in the Koran, take the above into account.
Slowly at first, then with increasing frequency and ferocity, non-Muslims will be massacred. Churches will be burnt, and repair will not be allowed.. This is all standard practice in all Islamic countries. In a matter of time, non-Muslims will be a shrinking minority.
So let me be absolutely clear, massive slaughter of the non-Muslim population of Europe is a certainty. There is no evidence in history of anything else but, from past or present.
Now to Trump. He is the only person that recognizes the threat that Europe is in. Hence the visceral hatred of the left of Pres Trump. The BBC and almost all media in the West is out to destroy him. Trump is an odd man. He has a temper, no doubt. On the other hand, he openly states what he thinks. Paradoxically, this makes him trustworthy.
The BBC is the CNN of Europe. A lying anti-Christian and anti-Western organisation, funded by forcibly making us pay for our destruction.
Putin has also identified the true threat of Islam and this of course fuels the vilification of him by the left wing media. Its ironic that the ‘left’ label Putin and Trump as a threat to world peace due to the fact they have both identified and seek to address the real threat (ROP).
Hey BBC! Don’t forget. The Mohammedans spread their golden enrichment eastward as well as westward! Lets have an historical chat about that with a panel of Hindus & Sikhs shall we?
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/history/holocaust.asp
I agree emphatically – the horrors (or otherwise) of the British Raj never seem to be discussed as anything other than a uniquely Western, uniquely British, abomination visited on the suffering peoples of India. The appalling record of the preceding Moghul and other (Muslim) dynasties, some of whose actions were inhuman on a mind-boggling scale – uninformed of course by any Christian moral framework, a framework which we take as our yardstick even as we affect to despise or denigrate it – is something I have heard mentioned with such vanishing rarity, I thought I must be imagining it. Thank you for the link; however, I suppose the story it tells is all too easily dismissed as ‘Hindu nationalism’ or some such alibi for ignoring it.
William Muir, one of the greatest scholars of Islam wrote:
First: Polygamy, Divorce, and Slavery strike at the root of public morals, poison domestic life, and disorganise society; while the Veil removes the female sex from its just position and influence in the world.
Second: freedom of thought and private judgment are crushed and annihilated. Toleration is unknown, and the possibility of free and liberal institutions foreclosed.
Third: a barrier has been interposed against the reception of Christianity.
‘the sword of Muhammed, and the Kor’an, are the most stubborn enemies of Civilisation, Liberty, and the Truth which the world has yet known'”.[14]
How on earth can any society make original contributions when freedom of thought is crushed.
Bragg is ignorant. He lives under the impression that he is a renowned intellectual. Unfortunately, this leads to ignorance.
Just had to get this off my chest.If there was ever a case for male genital mutilation it is Tony Blair and Tim Farron
Just as well there is never a case for it then.
It is the usual moral inversion, what is good (the West) is bad, and what is bad (Islam) is good, because we must not judge, because everything is equal. Of course you must not judge is itself a moral judgement, but this sort of reductionist inspired value inversion never applies to itself. Therefore there is no such thing as truth, because science tells us this, or there is no such thing as beauty, and this is the reason why magazines ought not to be filled with pictures of beautiful people. The Left are completely F***** U* and always have been. Best ignored, but I object to having to pay for this Leftist S***. If Bragg and other greedy arrogant T**** want to broadcast this sort of C*** they are welcome to, but I do not see why I should have to pay for their sanctimonious disinformation and sermonising.
I’m pretty sure plenty of muslim third world countries don’t have functioning sewer systems even now, so what are they proving exactly?
They’re full of cr*p?
This has become full-blown Orwellian now. This level of revisionism is despicable.
As I said in a post a few months ago, the Arabs got their learning from the Byzantine empire when they overran parts of it. This can be found out from Gibbon’s ‘Decline & Fall etc.’ The article from Conservative Woman is most interesting.
One could make a case that the Quran is the cause of the low development in Islamic countries. A core concept is that Mohammed was the perfect man and everything he did or said is the example to be followed, without question. The generation following Mohammed was less perfect and each succeeding generation is still less. Science and the progress that comes from it is based on the concept that questioning established ideas will lead to a better principle.
Islam (as now interpreted) and Science are incompatible. Modern Islam rejects the flexibility that allowed the Golden Age to borrow from other cultures while still claiming credit for it.
Meanwhile, BBC Pop Up (me neither) is off on a jaunt on the licence fee payers’ tab asking the questions of others Jon Sopel wishes he had…
“We got a lot of suggestions asking to take a look at the LGBT community in Lebanon, so that’s what we did. The film will be released in a couple of days. Let us know if there are any other stories you’d like us to cover.”
Certainly my first concern there.
I have two reasons for hating religion
1) The destruction of the Library at Alexandria by Muslims and
2) The socio-political rule imposed on Europe by the Catholic Church that held back the advancement of human knowledge for 1000 years.