Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A la sombra del granado | 1992 | Tariq Ali | N/A |
| 2 | Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree | 1992 | Tariq Ali | Buy |
| 3 | The Book of Saladin | 1998 | Tariq Ali | Buy |
| 4 | The Stone Woman | 2000 | Tariq Ali | Buy |
| 5 | A Sultan in Palermo | 2005 | Tariq Ali | Buy |
| 6 | Night of the Golden Butterfly | 2010 | Tariq Ali | Buy |
The Islam Quintet spans roughly a thousand years of Muslim civilization through five historical novels. Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (1992) opens in 1499 as the last Muslims of Spain face forced conversion or exile after the fall of Granada. The Book of Saladin moves to the Crusades, The Stone Woman to the late Ottoman period, A Sultan in Palermo to Norman Sicily, and Night of the Golden Butterfly brings the arc into contemporary Pakistan.
Tariq Ali uses fiction to explore periods and perspectives often marginalized in Western historical narratives. Each novel stands alone as a story about individuals caught in the tides of civilizational change, while together they form a panoramic view of Muslim cultural and political history across three continents.