4 replies on “Monday [11 to 15]”

1. 11. Was Mecca a lie? – Dropping names I met the historian Tom Holland at The Chalke Valley History Festival, held near Broad Chalke, where he was raised. He’d recently published the first of his two historical biographies called Athelstan: The Making of England (2016). However I was more interested in what happened after Ch.4 broadcast Islam: The Untold Story.

   ‘In August 2012 Holland produced and presented a documentary for Channel 4 television titled Islam: The Untold Story, which questioned Islamic doctrine that maintains Muhammad founded the religion in Mecca in the 7th century, and that the Quran was transmitted, in full, directly to Muhammad by Allah (God) via the angel Gabriel, rather than being written by a person or persons. Holland argued that there is very little contemporary historical evidence about the life of Muhammad, with no mention of him at all in historical texts until decades after his death, and no mention of Mecca in any datable text relating to him until over a century after he died. He concluded that it is much more likely that Islamic theology developed gradually over several centuries as the Arab Empire expanded, and that descriptions of Muhammad’s home more closely resemble what is now southern Israel than Mecca.

   Holland said the programme provoked “a firestorm of death threats” against him. Ofcom and Channel 4 received more than 1,200 complaints about it, although Ofcom found there was no breach of its broadcasting code to investigate. A planned screening of Islam: The Untold Story before an audience of historians was cancelled due to security concerns over threats received by Holland as a result of the documentary. Several religious scholars, including Jenny Taylor, founder of the Lapido Media Centre for Religious Literacy in World Affairs, and Keith Small of the International Qur’anic Studies Association, defended Holland and the right of historians to examine critically the origin stories of religions.

   Writing on the Channel 4 website, Holland responded to the criticism by claiming that the origins of Islam is a “legitimate subject of historical enquiry” and that his documentary was “a historical endeavour and is not a critique of one of the major monotheistic religions”. – Wikipedia

   Islam: The Untold Story | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam:_The_Untold_Story

   Reply

2. 14. The Boris damage to the country – only last month in his column for the Daily Mail he suggested mass miscegenation as the cure for what he’d done. Wasn’t the first time either that a Tory has put that idea on the table. We’ve known for decades what Labour think of us (I refer to Gordon Brown and his reply to the United Nations) but few know how deeply into ethnocide are the Tory Party. As it stands neither party gives a damn about who we are as indigenous northern Europeans – a shocking statistic is the number of white European women has dropped to just 1.5% of the world’s population. Do Not Vote People That Hate You.

   Reply

3. Cocked up the email addy I think. Trying again.
   Just how does one uncover the name for a long buried village?

   Was there a sign discovered?

   Were there mileposts pointing in its direction.

   Was its name carved into a lntel? Or does one guess?

   Answers on a postcard to…

   Reply

4. 15. A Bobbie reminder – another reminder of England and the English, same year..

   This Happy Breed (1944) | Full Movie HD | Celia Johnson, Robert Newton | David Lean British Classic | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2ETc2aIn7g

   Enjoy 🙂

   ……

   JH: Ta, Steve.

   Reply