Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (The Islam Quintet)

I have to say that I admire Ali's intellectual vigor and his propensity to instictively take the weaker position on any issue , which makes him a formidable debater and iconiclastic speaker. And in that light, "Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (Islam Quartet 1)", is an interesting exercise in championing history's perrenial under-dog, Islamic culture. No doubt also that Ali's strong anti-Western bias plays a rather strong, albeit silent role in this work.

A rather more interesting book might cover the rapid Muslim conquest in the 8th century of Syria, Palestine, and the North African coast from Egypt to Morocco, followed by a permenant imposition by force of Islamic culture on what had previously been a largely non-Arab, Christian base. From this staging area, Iberia fell quickly and the subsequent Umayyad invasion into Gaul (France) was halted by the Frankish army under the military commander, Charles Martel in Tours (NW France) in 732 a.d.

Had this invasion suceeded and conquered the Frankish army, Europe would have had very little defense against the invaders and Western history would have been quite different indeed.

From my vantage point, the great debater and rationalist Tariq Ali comes off as intellectually disingenuous at the very least in this work, for forcing such a hamfisted position. He exploits the West's ability to only half-remember it's own history. And he typifies the Islamic position of only remembering the glories of it's own history.

So let's recap:

West = Crusades = Inquisition = Bad.

Muslim Culture = Peaceful = Enlightened = Good.

Shame on the West. Shame on the bloodthirsty, barbarian Christians for treating the peaceful, culturally superior Muslims so badly.

A must-read for all Muslim apologist/revisionists and all self-flagellating Westerners.

Ok, the author says we christians massacrated the islamic culture in Spain. According to him, the moors were so superior, superior to those "barbarians" as all the time he calls the christians in his book. Disgusting kind of literature. Isabel of Castela was the greatest stateman (or statewoman) of her time, and she is described in the book as a bloody fool, thirsty for moors' blood. Come on! The author does not understand that it was a mere question of politics, the reconquer of Grenade. Another fact that made me sick: the moors were not violent! No, when they invaded the south of Portugal and Spain, it was a desert, nobody's land. Really???

If this is a novel, then how come all those Koolade-drinking reviewers are treating it as factual history?

We are expexted to actually believe that those poor little muslims were so innocent, while the bad, bad Christians tried to stop them from instituting their great sharia law, as they are trying ever so slowly now in Europe and here in the US of A?

If you love islam so much, try to live in saudi arabia for six months! Really live there, not just as a tourist in a hotel!! Then come back and review a book like this!!

A mesmerizing look at Muslim Spain during the Reconquest, from the perspective of the re-conquered. The disconnect between Ferdinand and Isabella's actual orders and the way they were implemented by the local Spanish Inquisition is fascinating. The idyllic home life of the Muslim village nobility is enchanting. The brutality of the Catholic violence is appalling. And the one-page epilogue is tantalizing. A book to include in any curriculum of wars from the perspective of the attacked....

Una hermosa novela que nos llevará fácilmente a mundos lejanos ya, pero presentes aún en el bagage cultural colectivo. Muy recomendable para leer apaciblemente, para disfrutar con su literatura y sus valores humanos.

This novel is the tale of a Muslim family living in Spain at the end of the 15th century. The military victory of the Catholic kings over Islam was confirmed centuries ago, now the Church hierarchy wants to eliminate the last vestiges of Islam on the Iberian peninsula. As a tale of a family living in turbulent times, this novel is outstanding. The characters are well developed and their interactions complex and believable. The story revolves around a well-to-do family living in SE Spain in the midst of growing pressure of the Catholic church. There are several threads to the story which are well woven together. We learn a great deal about the history of the family, the hopes and dreams of the youth, the mistakes and regrets of the older members. Hanging over everything is the threat of the Catholic Church. The head of the family, Umar, weighs the best course of action for him and his family. Should they convert to Catholicism, should they leave Spain and everything they've known and built, or should they fight a battle which they have no hope of winning?

There are several strengths to this book. First, I thought that an English language story in which Muslims are portrayed in a favorable light was a great idea. This book was published well before 9/11 and the GWOT, but it is even more relevant today as we are constantly bombarded by images of Muslims as fanatic terrorists in the US media. The impact of this tale would have been much higher, however, had Ali not used this story as a vehicle to make an anti-Catholic, anti-West rant. Had Ali been able to get past his own narrowminded prejudices, this could have been an alltime great novel. The Muslim-Catholic tension in the story is simply black and white - Muslims are proud, peaceloving, thoughtful heros, the Christians are all racist, murderous, religious bigots (sort of the inverse of Fox News). A more nuanced, morally balanced plot line would have, in my opinion, served much better. Second, the real strength of this story is in the character development. All of the characters were complex and realistically portrayed. The interplay between the characters was well done. The pacing of the story itself is a bit slow and the first half of the book is more about character development than plot. One serious weakness of this novel is that it is not historical fiction in the best sense of the term. That is, it really isn't much of a history lesson about the era or the people. You really aren't going to learn much about the era (although that was not, in my view, Ali's goal in any case).

The bottom line is that this is a good, if imperfect, historical novel about life in 15th century Spain from an Islamic perspective. Ali is clearly writing about the 20th-21st century in this book through the lens of the turbulent 15th century and trying to put a favorable image onto the Islamic culture for Western readers. Definitely worth a look if not uniquely outstanding.

This dramatic family saga evokes a past which has been hidden from history. The year is 1500, eight years after the fall of Granada. In the village of al-Hudayl, a carpenter, has carved a chess set for the 10th birthday of Yazid Bin Umar. The black queen is a caricature of Queen Isabella; the white king resembles Yazid's great-grandfather, a renowned Muslim knight. In times like these, even a chess set is dangerous. Yazid's father, a wealthy and enlightened Muslim patriarch, fears for his family and their future. His uncle Miguel, a Christian convert and now Bishop of Cordoba, is urging him to convert - thus saving the family property - and also to give his 17-year-old daughter, Hind, in marriage to Miguel's son. Independent Hind, however, is determined to wed the man of her choice; her headstrong elder brother prefers death to enslavement by the Catholic church; and young Yazid, the family favorite, plays with his chess pieces and misses nothing. Here brought to life is the turbulent period following eight centuries of Muslim rule in the Iberian peninsula. In this depiction of the medieval world we see book-burnings and battles; meet preachers, bandits, lovers, poets, orthodox believers, cynical skeptics, bawdy cooks, family retainers - all living on the edge of a civilization about to be engulfed.

Teachers/Librarians: this is a wonderful language arts piece to complement 7th grade social studies unit on Islam. If your school is "doing" The Medieval Banquet in the Alhambra Palace, this is your language arts piece, or for an easier read or for younger students, try Seven Daughters And Seven Sons. I have read aloud the prologue to Shadows. . while dramatizing the burning of the books - no one will ever forget it. Try it with your students. A week-long teachers program at Harvard had teachers in groups (7th and 9th grades) reading this and discussing ways to use it with their students!

Moorish Spain is a very interesting period (and Granada and southern Spain in general are wonderful places to visit) with many popular histories ranging from the romantic perspective of "Ornament of the World" to more pragmatic views depicting an uneasy coexistence of the Big 3 Western religions through 700 years of Islam in al-Andalus. Tariq Ali chose the former interpretation as context for this historical fiction.

In Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree we get a deliberately-paced story of one family's divergent attempts to come to terms with dramatic changes taking place around them in the wake of the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula. This is a narrative, and what action there is typically takes place "off screen." The characters are well-developed; I found myself empathizing with them in the painful decisions they had to make, although I have no experiences in my life remotely similar to this I can draw from.

A well-written story, in spite of any liberties taken with the historical rendering. I don't remember how/why I came across this series, but I already have Book 2 waiting for me to crack it open... I think I will.

Excellent insight to what life may have been like for granadans after the 'reconquest' and the early days of the inquisition. Well written and descriptive of daily life bringing historical figures and accounts to life.

Excellent writing - interesting story.