{"title":"Series: The Islam Quintet","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Islam Quintet\u003c\/em\u003e offers a profound exploration of themes that intersect faith, culture, and history, inviting readers to engage with diverse perspectives within Islamic thought. This series weaves philosophical inquiry and historical context, encouraging thoughtful reflection on the values and complexities that shape societies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can anticipate a rich tapestry of narrative and insight, blending contemplative philosophy with deeper understanding of cultural identity. Whether approached through personal stories or broader historical lenses, \u003cem\u003eThe Islam Quintet\u003c\/em\u003e promises an illuminating journey into enduring questions and ideas.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"shadows-of-the-pomegranate-tree-by-tariq-ali-9781836743712","title":"Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree","description":"Tariq Ali tells us the story of the aftermath of the fall of Granada by narrating a family sage of those who tried to survive after the collapse of their world. Ali is particularly deft at evoking what life must have been like for those doomed inhabitants, besieged on all sides by intolerant Christendom. \"This is a novel that have something to say, and says it well.\"-The Guardian","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47288765808876,"sku":"9781836743712","price":34.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/26507733482841.jpg?v=1770572993"},{"product_id":"night-of-the-golden-butterfly-by-tariq-ali-9781836743705","title":"Night of the Golden Butterfly","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eNight of the Golden Butterfly\u003c\/i\u003e concludes the Islam Quintet—Tariq Ali’s much lauded series of historical novels, over twenty years in the writing, which has been translated into a dozen languages.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCompleting an epic panorama that began in fifteenth-century Moorish Spain, the concluding novel moves between the cities of the twenty-first century, from Lahore to London, from Paris to Beijing. The narrator is rung one morning and reminded that he owes a debt of honour. The creditor is Mohammed Aflatun—known as Plato—an irascible but gifted painter living in a Pakistan where “human dignity has become a wreckage.” Plato, who once specialised in stepping back from the limelight, now wants his life story written.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs the tale unravels, we meet Plato’s London friend, Alice Stepford, now a leading music critic in New York; Mrs. “Naughty” Latif, the Islamabad housewife whose fondness for generals forces her to flee to the salons of intellectually fashionable Paris, where she becomes an overnight celebrity, hailed as the Diderot of the Islamic world; and there’s Jindie, the Golden Butterfly of the title, the narrator’s first love. The daughter of a Chinese family long settled in Lahore, Jindie is now married to his best friend, a Republican heart surgeon in DC, whose children cannot forgive him for saving the life of a much-despised politician.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInterwoven with this chronicle of contemporary life is the turbulent history of Jindie’s family. Her great forebear, Dù Wénxiù, led a Muslim rebellion in Yunnan in the nineteenth century and ruled the region from his capital Dali for almost a decade as Sultan Suleiman.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eNight of the Golden Butterfly\u003c\/i\u003e shows Ali in full flight, at once imaginative and intelligent, satirical and stimulating.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47420744138988,"sku":"9781836743705","price":34.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/8136K_qkV2L._SL1500.jpg?v=1774394193"},{"product_id":"the-book-of-saladin-by-tariq-ali-9781836743729","title":"The Book of Saladin","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Book of Saladin\u003c\/i\u003e is the fictional memoir of Saladin, the Kurdish liberator of Jerusalem, as dictated to a Jewish scribe, Ibn Yakub. Saladin grants Ibn Yakub permission to talk to his wife and retainers so that he might present a full portrait in the Sultan's memoirs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA series of interconnected stories follows, tales brimming over with warmth, earthy humour, and passions in which ideals clash with realities and dreams are confounded by desires.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe novel charts the rise of Saladin as Sultan of Egypt and Syria and follows him as he prepares to take Jerusalem back from the Crusaders. This is a medieval story, but it uncannily points to contemporary events in Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47420750954732,"sku":"9781836743729","price":34.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/81F6KAyDCPL._SL1500.jpg?v=1774394612"},{"product_id":"the-stone-woman-by-tariq-ali-9781836743736","title":"The Stone Woman","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIstanbul, 1899. The last great Islamic empire is in serious trouble. The family of Iskender Pasha, an Ottoman notable, has retired to its summer palace.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThen a former tutor poses a question which the family has been refusing to confront for almost a century: \"Your Ottoman Empire is like a drunken prostitute, neither knowing nor caring who will take her next. Do I exaggerate, Memed?\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis passionate story of jealousies, betrayals, and vendettas charts the decay of the Empire and the rise of a new generation deeply hostile to the myths of the 'golden days.' The power of the \u003cem\u003eIslam Quintet\u003c\/em\u003e lies both in its storytelling and its challenge against stereotyped images of life under Islam.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47420755378412,"sku":"9781836743736","price":34.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/81sAOyPFqrL._SL1500.jpg?v=1774394861"},{"product_id":"a-sultan-in-palermo-by-tariq-ali-9781781689301","title":"A Sultan in Palermo","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe fourth novel in Tariq Ali's 'Islam Quintet' charts the life and loves of the medieval cartographer Muhammed al-Idrisi. Torn between his close friendship with the sultan and his friends who are leaving the island or plotting a resistance to Norman rule, Idrisi finds temporary solace in the harem; but his conscience is troubled...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Sultan in Palermo\u003c\/em\u003e is a mythic novel in which pride, greed, and lust intermingle with resistance and greatness. Debunking myths about Oriental exoticism, it echoes a past that can still be heard today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47595722637548,"sku":"9781781689301","price":22.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781781689301-a-sultan-in-palermo.jpg?v=1777904804"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/series-the-islam-quintet.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}