Strains of Paradise

Samira Ahmed asks why the idea of Paradise, a place of perfect happiness, has been so potent in human history and how it survives in the modern world.

Medieval maps at the British Library actually show the places where paradise was thought to exist on earth, in many cases a walled space tantalizingly close to the known world. Samira talks to Peter Barber, Head of Maps at the Library, about early depictions of paradise and how they changed over the centuries.

She also explores how England has been viewed as a kind of paradise - from Shakespeare's 'scepter'd isle' to the dreams of desperate migrants trying to cross the Channel today.

Perhaps the most persuasive idea of paradise exists within elements of Islam, especially some Jihadist groups, for whom the idea of paradise has become an added impetus to violence and self-destruction. Samira talks to the Muslim theologian and Imam Usama Hasan about the place of paradise within core Islamic thinking and about how those ideas have become so dangerously perverted.

Samira also explores the idea of paradise as an ideal still pursued by the rich in their exclusive and often gated hideaways and exotic retreats.

Strains of Paradise is presented by Samira Ahmed, with readings and poetry that include Thomas Hardy and Emily Dickinson and music from the likes of Faure, John Taverner, Van Morrison, Harry McClintock and Delius.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.