Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by British author and historian Tariq Ali is the first book in a five-part series about the history of the clash between Islamic and Christian empires, and the rise and fall of Islam. A historical novel, the book is set in the late fifteenth century after the fall of the Muslim Kingdom of Granada in Spain to the Christian armies of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. The novel takes place in a small kingdom near Granada, following one family as they experience the dramatic social, political, and religious changes that occur after the Reconquista, as Christian forces infiltrate predominantly Muslim lands.

The book begins just after the Reconquest or Reconquista, the period in which King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain took over the last Muslim-ruled territory in Spain, the Kingdom of Granada. Ferdinand and Isabella are best known for the Spanish Inquisition, and the scare tactics they used to force a doctrine of Christianity on all they ruled over. Part of this mission was the takeover of Granada, where Muslim Spaniards had been living for centuries, speaking Arabic and creating innovations in science, technology, and the arts. Initially, the Kingdom of Granada was ruled over by Archbishop Talavera, a gentle Catholic who created a number of Arabic-Latin dictionaries for use by Muslims to encourage them to read the Bible and attend mass. He used persuasion to try to convert the Muslims to Catholicism to unify the empire, which wasn't too much of an affront to the devout Muslims living in Granada who had no intention of converting. That changed, however, when Ferdinand and Isabella instated a new Archbishop who had aggressive plans for conversion.

The instatement of Archbishop Ximenes de Cisneros, known in the book as Ximenes, opens the novel with a violent book-burning scene that is shocking to the Moorish people of Granada. Many of the books contained scientific and medical information that no Christian people had yet discovered, but Ximenes was committed to destroying all Moorish culture, to force conversion to Christianity. Books of art, culture, myth, and astronomy went up in flames, as the Moors stood by, aghast at the destruction of their language, life, and knowledge. Only a few medical textbooks were saved – Ximenes didn't want to lose that information and cause a health crisis – and a handful of other texts that were plucked from the flames by Christian soldiers who disagreed with Ximenes tactics.



The protagonists of Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree are the Hudayl clan, Muslims who migrated from Damascus to live in a small village in Spain. For many generations, the Hudayls had lived in Granada. Along with the other startled onlookers, they watch as Ximenes destroyes their livelihoods, their culture, and their future. They fear what they know will come next – interrogations, violence, and forced conversion. For some, it will mean migration from the only land they have ever called home. The Hudayls’s are portrayed as slightly lazy, gluttonous, sweet, and fun-loving by Ali, who characterizes them much the same way that many leaders are portrayed at the end of an empire.

Ximenes maintains this systematic terrorizing of the Muslims, who band together and threaten revolt, only to realize that they don't have the strength or the power to make that happen. Finally, after a few failed starts, Ximenes pushes the Moors to action. The rebellion is doomed from the beginning, which Ali makes clear in his writing, but the acts of bravery are commendable all the same; emotions are high among the Moors fighting for their homeland. The book ends as the Moors who remain move to North Africa to begin new lives in an area more hospitable to their language, religion, and customs.

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree is the first book in the Islam Quintet. It is followed by The Book of Saladin, The Stone Woman, A Sultan in Palermo, and Night of the Golden Butterfly.



Tariq Ali lives in the U.K. A left-wing Pakistani-born activist, journalist, novelist, and historian, he writes on the history of Islam, Marxism, post-colonialism, and a number of other subjects. Ali, a public intellectual, frequently participates in talk shows and creates films to spread the word about his various causes and philosophies. He comes from a legacy of activists – his mother and father, once leaders of Punjab in the formerly colonized British-ruled Indian territory, lead revolts of peasants against British leaders. Ali has written dozens of books, most recently Permanent Counter Revolution and The Dilemmas of Lenin: Terrorism, War, Empire, Love, and Revolution.