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Title: Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali ISBN: 0-86091-676-6 Publisher: Verso Books Pub. Date: December, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.11 (9 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A historic fiction tale of the Moors in Spain
Comment: Ali's "Shadow of the Pomegranate Tree" provides not only a great reading, but an extremely useful corrective to the general western misconception about Muslim society. His work while a fiction, has clearly been thoroughly researched. The openness, tolerance and cosmopolitanism of Islamic society during the Moorish period is clearly presented with accents and touches that ring true. While westerners are inclined to view Islam as a monolithic entity, Ali brings out the division and tension that existed within the societies of each period.
"Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree" is set in Spain after the fall of Granada. The story of the Banu Hudayl, a landed aristocratic family, the book explores the fateful decision that the Muslims of Spain had to make in the aftermath of the Reconquista. Shadows opens with the Muslim community having been recently shaken by the burning of their books on the order of Ximenes de Cisneros, Isabella's confessor. Sent to Granada to debate theology, Cisneros was verbally bested by the Muslim scholars. Defeated, he ordered all Muslim books to be destroyed two million manuscripts burned. "They set our culture on fire...The record of eight centuries was annihilated in one day", Umar the head of the Hudayl, laments. The only books to be saved from this wanton destruction were 300 medical and scientific works, spared by the petitions of Christian scholars who realized their superiority, and those books that the soldiers carrying them to the square discarded, judging the books' importance by their weight.
Cisneros, a man of the church is hell bent on destroying all vestiges of the Muslim society and culture in Granada. He sees force as the only way to win the conversion of the Muslims to Christianity, unlike his predecessor, who had given orders for the priests to learn Arabic and have Christian works translated. Yet his actions also have a personal element, as others whisper about his apparent Jewish features. Cisneros cruelty is interestingly contrasted to the outlook of Don Ignio, the civilian governor of the Granada region, and a life long friend of Umar's. Don's entrouge consisted of Jewish and Moors, and he tells Umar "For me a Granada without them is like a desert without Oasis. But I am on my own" When Umar comments that the current situation would never have arisen had the Moors used the same tactics that the Christian were now employing, Dons's response is: "Instead you attempted to bring civilization to the whole peninsula regardless of faith or creed. It was noble of you now you must pay the price."
The reason I find this an excellent read is because Ali treats western history with the same thoroughness and brutal honesty, he demolishes the myth that the episode was a victory of one sort or the other of western society, simply by incorporating facts into the narrative. The triumphalism and sheer blood thirstiness of the Christian west is underscored most clearly in "Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree".
Rating: 2
Summary: Don't forget now: Christians are wicked!!
Comment: This is the first time I have been unable to finish a book. Tariq Ali is not a bad writer but the rhythm of his prose is constantly drowned out by the relentless grinding of his axe. Every time one is beginning to settle into the story, a group of the Muslim characters, who are otherwise well drawn, are made to engage in some wooden dialogue about the wicked uncultured Christians in a wholly unnatural way.
Tariq Ali has found a very interesting subject for a novel but he is unable to let the story speak for itself. He just can't stop himself from ramming his opinions down the reader's throat. It reads like a novel punctuated by political speeches from his student days. If the subject matter were any different it would be laughable; as it is, it seems that it is just too PC to point out the very obvious shortcomings in this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Stirring
Comment: A poignant account of an aristocratic muslim family in Moorish Spain, Tariq Ali spins a brilliant tale of empires lost and heroism re-discovered. One of my personal heroes from his days as a student leader in the 60's, Ali is as always brilliant in his penmanship. I was introduced to his writings by my father, a close personal friend of the author and Iv been hooked ever since. One of the very best accounts you could find of Moorish Spain and the end of an empire that gave the world such architectural masterpieces like the Al-Hambra.
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Title: The Book of Saladin: A Novel by Tariq Ali ISBN: 1859842313 Publisher: Verso Books Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Stone Woman by Tariq Ali ISBN: 1859843646 Publisher: Verso Books Pub. Date: November, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity by Tariq Ali ISBN: 185984457X Publisher: Verso Books Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq by Tariq Ali ISBN: 1859845835 Publisher: Verso Books Pub. Date: November, 2003 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf ISBN: 0805208984 Publisher: Schocken Books Pub. Date: 29 April, 1989 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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