The first programme examines the causes and legacy of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. It reveals how a purist form of Islam, Wahabbism, was brought from Arabia to India in the 18th century, where it created the basis for a jihad (holy war) against the British. Later, in the form of Deobandism, this revivalist form of Islam was taken up in Pakistan, then by the Taleban, and today by disillusioned young Muslims in Britain. Author Charles Allen, a leading authority on South Asian history, and award-winning writer and historian William Dalrymple share their knowledge and opinions of the mutiny and its background. The programme also makes use of newly discovered documents that show how the revolt centered on the King of Delhi, Bhahadur Shah II, a descendant of the Mughal Emperors from the great Islamic dynasty started by Babur in the 16th century.
In this programme, attention is focused on the Mahdist revolt in the 1880s. This is the story of the largest power in the world, motivated and led by devout Christians who pursued their geo-political aims with a missionary and jingoistic zeal. They clashed with an Islamic fundamentalist the Mahdi, a self-proclaimed Muslim redeemer in the Sudan who took on the might of the British empire and its Christian hero, General Charles Gordon. The British went to great lengths to destroy him and his followers, but his story continues to inspire modern day militants. The Mahdi sought strength from inflammatory religious proclamations and was intent on purging the corrupt foreign influence on his own society through asymmetrical military means. The parallels with today are stark, especially when one considers that 100 years later, the Sudan hosted another self-styled Islamic revivalist, Osama Bin Laden.
The final episode looks at Palestine. The roots of the conflict are traced to the decisions made by the British during the First World War and beyond. The complex relationship between Britain and Islam could be no better embodied as the British at first promised independence for the Arabs before reneging on that through Sykes-Picot and the Balfour Declaration. The schizophrenia is emphasised through figures such as T.E. Lawrence, whose fondness of the Arabs was unparalleled, to the likes of Orde Wingate whose Christian evangelism led him to support Zionism
