Customer Reviews

Inside the Koran

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It goes without saying that many in the Christian and Jewish worlds are deficient in knowledge about the Koran and the diversity of Muslim beliefs. "Inside the Koran" is an outstanding, "most bang for your buck" introduction to Islam. Experts, of course, will quibble over specific points, but there is a crying need for a starting point for the average Western viewer.

This documentary explains the difference between Sunni and Shia, and several other variants of Islam. It explains how different Muslims can find, within the Koran, completely opposite justifications for how they act on crucial issues like the use of terrorism and violence, and the role of women. Some insist that the Koran is Allah's unchangeable word, others that it is a living, flexible message that each believer can interpret for himself. Many Americans do not understand emotionally why Muslins consider the United States and the State of Israel to be joined at the hip. This program makes that clear. The role of Saudi Arabia as the major funder of the recent expansion of Muslim beliefs, education, and some terrorism is outlined.

Some coverage is given to recent scholarship that questions historical interpretations of the Koran and accepted history of the various texts. Such scholarship may prove to be right, but should initially be taken with a grain of salt. Regardless, this is an excellent general introduction.

"Inside the Koran" has excellent production values for elements such as photography, interview technique, sound and editing. It should be required viewing in every high school in the United States.

I saw this documentary on Nationation Geographic Channel. The video is very interesting and provided alot information the development of Koran and different intepretations. I recommend to everyone who is interested about learning more about what is written in Koran and how different scholar interpret the Koran. I found it pretty amazing when they compare the different verses between the current Arabic version of Koran and the newly discovered earlies version fo Koran in Yeman.

This documentary is not good for an introduction to Islam. It jumps from point to point and from Shia to Sunni to Sufi ideology without giving clear divisions as to who those views belong. For a film that claims to get inside the qur'an it spends very little time actually discussing what is said in the text at all. It gives a little passage here and there but certainly does'nt go into it. It barely gives how different scholars interpret the meanings and why or how they are misinterpreted. Although there is mention of how certain passages that talk about mercy and such are sometimes only half-heeded it is understated. This documentary gives the impression that Islam is widely open to interpretation which it is not. 85% of Muslims (as stated in the film itself) are Sunni so why not emphasize the Sunni beliefs since that's what most believe and then give the minority views of Shia, Sufi, even Wahabist views. There is good information in it, there is poorly presented and/or bad information in it. It is not a good primer. Even many of the issues it addresses are not beginners level issues and are better left to someone who already has a basic understanding of Islam and various Muslim cultures. Inside Islam and Islam: Empire of Faith are far better as an introduction to this religion. I had hopes that this would provide a better understanding of how certain verses from the Qur'an are mis-interpreted by both extremists and by those who try to disprove Islam but that was not the case either. Overall I felt this was a very poor introduction and a very poor look at the Qur'an itself. Don't wast your time or money with it.

Prior to the tragic events of 9/11, most Americans had only the vaguest impression of Islam, principally gleaned from Hollywood films and literary novels involving the Crusades. For most Americans, all they knew was that Islam was started by a man named Mohammad and that its sacred book was called the Koran. With the attacks on American soil by Muslims who took as their ethical mandate the Islamic religion to do so, Americans viewed Islam to be intrinsically hostile to American cultural values. Even the American president George W. Bush was ignorant of the various divisions within the Islamic religion and view the diverse Muslim world as monolithic. The result was the continuing international tragedy we are still dealing with some eight years later. That's why "Inside The Koran: A Journey Into The Heart Of Islam", a film by Anthony Thomas and now available in a DVD format from First Run Features is such a vitally important addition to every community and school library collection, it is critically important viewing for every American citizen wanting accurate, descriptive, insightful information on one of the most important religious texts in the world today. "Inside The Koran" will also provide information and insight into the diversity of the Muslim world of ayatollahs, grand imams, mosques, and the lives of ordinary Muslims.

This is a wonderful documentary for people interested in learning about Koran, the Holy Book of the Muslim people. The film is broken into several chapters and is very easy to follow, regardless of your faith. While it covers many topics on Islam, I wasn't satisfied with their explanation of why Muslim women & girls were made to wear a garment that covered them from head to toe. If by covering them means it will avoid "tempting" man's desires, then where's the man's responsibility for their action? Why does the responsibility rest sorely on the women? If the Muslim woman chooses to wear the full abaya, then that's a different story, but to punish her for NOT wearing it is nonsensical.

This documentary start out with a suicide bomber telling us what he was going to do. In his distorted mind, he thinks his action is justified. It was very sad to see how he carried out his "mission" and thus ending his young life. It was even sadder to see so many innocent people being killed. If we all acted based on what we believed to be the "truth", then we had better make sure that "truth" is correct; otherwise, our entire life would've been based on false assumptions. No matter how you look at it, Koran does not encourage killing of innocent people. No religion does.

After watching this documentary, I had many more questions than answers, but I did find it to be comprehensive and a fair interpretation of Koran. I also found it interesting to know that Koran and Bible shared many common threads. Who knew? Highly recommended for people with an objective mind.

Okay this video is good in the sense that it shows the many different personalities and versions of Islam, but as a student of this religion for many years, it is very unfair and bias as how the beginning of the video starts with all violence and controversy, which implants the idea of hate and confusion already, and in all honesty it just does not do a good job for beginners who are wanting to know about this faith. They do a poor job discussing the historical analysis of why there are many different versions or why there is a twisting of verses or practices. It sort of displays a very common picture of the religion you would get from the television.. depending on what channel or commentator that is talking about Islam, you can get an account of the faith that is interpreted very bias or very liberal, with no historical, sociological analysis. Personally if you want a good start for Islam that shows not only the many versions of Islam and the many different analysis of interpretations, personalities, controversies and profiles, i recommend "muhammad legacy of a prophet" which was produced by PBS- there is a film of experts that cover all aspects of the religion and has a competent team of experts to explain all your questions in an entertaining fashion too. I really wonder about the intent of such film makers

I have seen the video last night from 8pm(5 January 2010) on Nat Geo channel. It was an amazing video. It was quite critical and yet very respectful in approaching the analysis and reporting of issues related to the religion of Islam. Every liberal cosmopolitan citizen should watch it to understand Islam and Muslims better. The next airing on Nat Geo is JAN 12 4pm. Read more: [...]. It is also a good video to collect and preserve.