Customer Reviews

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (Vol. 1) (The Islam Quintet)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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".

I am quite surprised to discover the lack of attention which this book seems to have received. A highly respected political analyst and writer, (And a brilliant speaker. I have witnessed him speaking at the Oxford Union and he was as impressive as I had heard), Tariq Ali, in my opinion ventures successfully into the area of novel writing. My wife and I enjoyed the book quite a bit and it provoked many an interesting discussion. I would say that the highpoints are an impressive depiction of the progressive, liberal and still very much Muslim society which existed in Spain and its cultural and literary achievements. This is indeed a golden era of Spanish, Muslim and world history and the South of Spain still contains many a splendid remnant of this golden past. At various levels, Tariq Ali is very successful in showing what the last days of this great civilization must have been like and how brutal and narrow-minded the inquisition was after this period of great political harmony, intellectual and cultural synthesis and progress. Tariq Ali paints his characters with affection and care and most of the time they are highly believable. The sincere pathos he feels about this chapter of history comes through clearly in his depiction of various instances especially the burning of the Islamic libraries by the Christians who successfully went on to more or less erase the Muslim character of and contribution to Spanish history. A recent trip to the Mayan ruins in Mexico

revealed the brutality and wonton destruction of other cultures by the same people in other geographical contexts. Indeed the christian revival which transformed into the inquisition was one of the most repressive regimes in the history of mankind. Tariq Ali shows how a one-time magnificent Muslim culture, gets corrupted and sterile and loses out to a more vicious and narrow-minded zealotry. Anyone who has been to the south of Spain and has seen Moorish cities will empathize with the lament of the writer in this book. There are stylistically awkward instances in the novel but on the whole it is quite well written and evocative and covers an important point in history. I think that Tariq Ali should seriously consider continuing fiction writing. A worthwhile read which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in the history of Islam, Moorish Spain, the Inquisition or even the broad category of good fiction coming from writers of South Asian origin.

This small novel covers the late 14th Century and the attitudes of the Church that spawned the Inquisition. Many are aware of the damage to the Jews through the cruelty and torture of the Inqisitors. However, there was another target in Spain- the demolition of Moorish culture, particularly Granada. The most spectacular and infamous event in this history is the massive burning of all the great Muslim writings on mathematics, science and religion. Under the watchful eyes of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, a fanatical Inquisitor, Ximenes de Cisneros, attempts to thoroughly obliterate the Moorish culture. The book burning is merely the first step in the plan; Cisneros understands that if you can destroy history, traditions and freedom to speak the language, people are more easily subjugated. During this shameful period, the Catholic Church was relentless in its efforts to destroy those who refused conversion. Families who had passed their land and wealth from generation to generation were targeted for assimilation as "conversos" or put to death. We follow the lives of one such family as its members decide to either flee for safety, join forces to fight, or are brutally slain. The story moves slowly throughout, but historically, so did the times. I would like to have had more detail about the activities of the Inquisitors and the beliefs of the Muslims in Granada; the primary statement of belief is stated, "There is only one God and His name is Allah, and his prophet is Mohammed." At times it almost felt like reading a fable in the style the author used, an ancient story passed along in oral tradition. Unfortunately, it isn't just a fable. This is an area of great interest as belief systems affect modern as well as ancient attitudes.

Not historical fiction with a message but a story of the times with the truth: Moorish Spain at one point was the height of knowledge, culture, art, architecture and most important of all, religious tolerance and understanding. The Muslims ruled fairly in contrast to Isabel and Ferdinand, so loved for their gift of ships to Columbus, who when they finally defeated the Moors at Granada promised the Moorish people that they could retain their religion and lifestyle and culture. But the greedy and dark forces of the (at that time) troubled Catholic Church convinced the royalty to go back on their promises. The twisted and sadistic bishops started to destroy the culture of the Moors by burning their books (the same approach used with the Mayans in the New World) and reducing their promised freedoms. And so the story begins.
The members of a Moorish family who has lived outside Granada for many generations faces the new day with all the possible options; fight, flight, death, assimilation. The story is very well written, the characters real, the sense of time and place well set. The story is not slanted towards Moors=good, Christians=bad, although a quick look at those times in Spain one could easily make that argument. Instead the author pursues not religious credos but the challenges of individuals balancing the conflicts between their beliefs, their hearts, their ethics, orders from their superiors; the easy, the hard and the difference between right and wrong and the void between.
It is a great book, I liked it on several levels, it was the first Tariq Ali I read; I went right and got another.

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree is about a small town in Moorish Spain, and the timeline up to its defeat by the Inquisition. The focus is on a large wealthy family, the mysteries behind family members, and how they change. Some characters seemed a bit unrealistic, but for the most part, each character was consistent. It was an enjoyable to read a historic book and feel that it was accurate to have been non-fiction. Tariq Ali showed that he is very talented and passionate about what he does.

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.

A wealthy granadan family looks to its past as it faces the uncertainty of life under Christian rule with the recent conquest of spain. Intertwining stories of love and valour overlie the background of the family's unwillingness to change to the new regime, and their current powerlessness. The stories are poignant, the characters fully fleshed and the backdrop of Moorish Spain is richly depicted. A must read.

I enjoyed this book most for its historical value, second for its introduction to the Moorish culture in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. For instance, as a dieter, I noticed how often they talked about vegetables as culinary delicacies; they served them to honored guests (tomatoes laced with herbs and spices, that kind of thing). I guessed the Moors must have been thin and thought about how modern Americans view and consume food (mindlessly, quickly, etc.). But that's just one tiny aspect of what I reflected on in the book. There was also their bathing rituals, their family relationships, the use of names that reflected ancestry, a whole host of interesting tidbits.

The anti-Christianity was to be expected. The Christians were destroying their culture and killing them off, whether we like to remember that or not. Should they have *liked* us for that? Come on. Our religion was foreign and strange to them and--of course--our massacres were evil. Horrific. A holocaust.

The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars was that so many points of view were represented that I found it hard to identify with individual characters.

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.

The premise of the book has been thoroughly described by other reviewers. I will only write about why this book was important to me. I am Greek and since Greece has been under Muslim rule for 400 years in the past and currently still has disputes with Turqey you can imagine that my knowledge and views about Islamic culture are biased at the least. Still what a great read and eye-opener this book has been for me. Especially in times like these when religious fanatism is high and rising, and certainly not only in the east, it is essential for each to learn as much as one can about the other. And boy did I learn a lot. I learned that Muslims are very much responsible for advances in mathematics, medicine and astronomy. I learned that as conquerors they were agressive sure but not destroyers of everything. I learned that muslim women at that time were respected and entitled to their opinions. I learned that I need to learn more, read more. I am ashamed to say that this has been the first book I ever read by a muslim writer but thankfully it won't be the last.