Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree

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Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree

First edition
Author	Tariq Ali
Publisher	Chatto & Windus
Publication date	1992
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	242 pp[citation needed]
ISBN	0701139447
Preceded by	Redemption
Followed by	Necklaces

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree is a historical novel by British Pakistani writer Tariq Ali, first published in 1992. The first of Ali’s Islam quintet, a series of historical novels about the confrontations between Islamic and Christian cultures, this novel is set shortly after the reconquista of Kingdom of Granada in Muslim Spain by the army of Ferdinand and Isabella in the late fifteenth century.^[1]

Plot[]

Beginning with the bonfire of over one hundred thousand books taken from all of the Muslim libraries in Granada, a seat of great learning in Moorish Spain, the story focuses on one family, the Banu Hudayl, who have lived in a small village near Granada for hundreds of years. As rumours begin to circulate of humiliations and possible banishments of Muslims by the conquering Christians, and even forced conversions to Christianity the Banu Hudayl and their fellow villagers, Muslim, Christian and Jew, can only wait in anguish for the approaching disaster.^[2]

Historical accuracy[]

Towards the end of Chapter 12, Yazid ate a salad of "radishes, onions, and tomatoes". However, the tomato originated in western South America and Central America.^[3] It would not have been available in the Granada area at the time of the story.

References[]

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