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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Islam Quintet,
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This review is from: A Sultan in Palermo (The Islam Quintet, Book Four) (Hardcover)
A sultan in palermo was the perfect final book to a wonderfully written series by tariq ali. i thoroughly enjoyed the whole group and was swept along with the main characters in all four of the books. the story of muhammad al-idrisi was supberly written, full of statesmanship, scholarship, and love. i highly recommend the whole series to anyone interested in the history of islam and of europe's encounters with muslims in the past. together these four books are a truly great addition to anyone's person library.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Read it last.,
By
This review is from: A Sultan in Palermo (The Islam Quintet, Book Four) (Hardcover)
Having completed all the novel of the Tariq Ali's Islam Quintet, I would suggest that anyone starting this series not begin with "A Sultan in Palermo". While I enjoy and appreciate the historical and cultural backgrounds in Ali's novels, this book seemed to become somewhat preoccupied with the romantic and erotic interests of the protagonist Idrisi, to the extent that it becomes an annoying distraction to the historical plot. After Chapter Twelve, I began to find this book somewhat difficult to pick up again. No such problem with the earlier three works.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A novel unbecoming of "The Islam Quintet",
By M. A. ZAIDI "Ali Zaidi" (Karachi; Pakistan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Sultan in Palermo (The Islam Quintet, Book Four) (Hardcover)
Taris Ali's quintet series is a telling response to anyone accusing muslims as having no culture and civilization. The series is a sincere attempt by Tariq to convey the magnitude of the contribution made by muslims in the past 1400 years; which has so easily been forgotten. It was the insightful writings of muslim scholars that inspired Europe to greater heights and helped it transgress towards the Renaissance.
Sultan in Palermo revisits the Middle Ages, this time in Sicily, an island conquered by the Aghlabids in the 10th century then reconqured by the Normans in 1092. It takes as its main characters two major historical figures, Sultan Rujeri of Siqillya - or, as he is otherwise known, King Roger II of Sicily, and his protégé, Muhammad al-Idrisi, a cartographer. The book is set at a time where the sultan is at the end of his life and is maneuvering through politics insecuring the throne for his future generations. In a cavalier compromise the sultan had accepted the demands of the barons to persecute General Phillip (sympathetic to the muslims) on trumped up treason. The equilibrium on the muslim-christian nexus gets shifted. A peaceful society so far; is embroiled in tension and is gripped with the anxiety of persecution. In this atmosphere al-Idrisi seems torn between his affiliation with the king and his people. I felt that "The Sultan of Palermo" failed to meet the penetrating and encompassing story of the earlier three novels. The disturbing fact is that in the perverse environment; where destiny is at the cross roads. Al-Idrisi was expected to be sagacious; exhibiting maturity; intellect and in-tune with his people. Instead he is a disdainful aphrodisiac enamored with the art of love than politics. On the eve of the execution of General Phillip; his gravest concern is whether to spend the night with his wife or his sister in law. There are more bedroom heroics than courtroom guile.
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