Fanning the Flames of History 15:00, 2001 (Ref: ME01216)

Description

A film which examines what long-standing grievances motivated Osama bin Laden and his followers to carry out the Twin Towers attack on 9/11.

Why did some of that resentment & hatred date back hundreds of years?

Was the fuse of the terrible, explosive events in the USA on September 11th lit over one thousand years ago? We examine the historical grievances of Islam.

We delve into the complex relationship that has existed between Muslims, Christians and Jews since the founding of Islam in 622 – and examine the age-old resentments between Islam and the west that are being fanned and manipulated by the extremists responsible for today’s headlines.

We trace those resentments from the Crusades to the fall of the Moors, and later, the Ottoman Empire – and reveal how, as victors, the Christian world has forgotten what parts of the Muslim world have not.

This film argues the West needs to know history and not fall into bin Laden’s trap.

Without that knowledge, the danger is that the Muslim world could see the attacks on Afghanistan as yet another crusade – western imperialism against Islam.

Bin Laden’s call for a “Jihad” could gain credibility among the hundreds of millions of poor and oppressed in the Islamic world, no matter how distorted his vision.