Islam And The West - Season 1

At the heart of this episode is the birth of the Islamic religion in the person and teachings of the prophet Mohammed. Among the major questions examined here are: Why is the Koran God's word? Why did the new religion spread so rapidly? What is the origin of the concept "jihad" (holy war) and why did the expansion into Spain prove to be so fruitful?

While Christian Europe receded into darkness during the Middle Ages, a spectacular cultural blossoming took place in the Islamic world. It arose from the "swords of the spirit," which is how Muslims called science and art. This episode retraces the golden age of Islam and, once again, we adopt the perspective of what is shared, and how one culture profited from the other.

In modern times, the balance of power between East and West shifted. What caused the rupture between the Islamic and the Christian worlds? This episode covers 400 years of history beginning with the definitive routing of the Ottomans at the gates of Vienna in 1683. But while Muslim pirates foster the slave trade off Europe's coasts, Muslims are not involved in the great voyages of discovery