Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree

Rating:
Summary: Stirring
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Stirring
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Jewel in Granada
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A historic fiction tale of the Moors in Spain
Review: 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:
Summary: Sombras da Romanzeira.
Review: Certamente este livro deve fazer parte de sua bilblioteca se você se interessa por romances históricos. Claro que não é o melhor exemplo do estilo, mas, Tariq Ali consegue transpor personagens distantes com descrisões simples e humanas, fazendo com que você faça parte de seu mundo e compartilhe certos momentos históricos. O ponto forte do livro não esta na apuração histórica, mas a falta de informações é sutil, uma vez que a narração é muito boa. Eu tambêm li a versão traduzida, que já não é tão boa por pequenos erros sintáticos no texto.

Rating:
Summary: Don't forget now: Christians are wicked!!
Review: 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:
Summary: The intolerance of Christianity
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Una hermosa novela
Review: 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.