Shadows Of The Pomegranate Tree Analysis

Tariq Ali uniquely puts into perspective the horrific tragedies behind the Spanish reconquest in his work, Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, by capturing the history in the perspective of a Muslim family who lived in a village just outside of recently conquered Granada. He does this in order to expose the cruelty and intolerance of the Archbishop Xemenes de Cineros. Ali also uncovers the faults in not only Christianity, but also in Islamic ideology by having many character’s from the family Banu Hudayl debating and questioning Islamic beliefs which may parallel with the author’s own beliefs, or lack thereof. (Tariq) One of Ali’s strongest focuses however, was to expose the lack of urgency many Muslims felt after the fall of Granada. Many Muslim’s

He uses the Banu Hudayl family to show that people of high status such as Zubayda have doubts of religion. Ali tries to diminish religion altogether by the many examples of fake conversions to Christianity which provides a sense that everyone has flaws, even the most devote Muslims. The fear which lead to the false conversion of many Muslims can directly correlate with the reasoning behind the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain in 1609 under the rule of King Phillip III. Ali does not directly state this but hints at it throughout the novel by revealing many false converts and the tension that Cisneros feels towards these fake Christians. Ali also expresses his beliefs of equality through the many examples of sins and impurities among Muslims and Christians. Ali is trying to argue that we are all imperfect and selfish people, even if we have religion there will always be good and bad people. While there are many instances of noble sacrifice, such as Zuhayr going to fight for his family and for the town he loves, Hind points out that he only does this noble act out of

I would counter this argument by saying that many of them would still have been scared into conversion which would in most cases have produced the same outcome for the Muslim people, especially involving the expulsion of them later in history. If Ali had been a Muslim rather than an atheist I believe this novel would have been more biased and lenient on the Muslim people, I am not sure that the argument of the Muslims living in the shadows would have been the same. Ali being an atheist provides an insight into the history that many other may not have considered to think about. This being said Ali’s main argument although may not have enough support to back it up completely was a fair one with many underlying