7.6 /10 1 Votes
Publication date 1998 ISBN 978-1-85984-834-0 Publisher Verso Books | 3.8/5 Goodreads Media type Print Originally published 1998 Followed by The Stone Woman Pages 367 pp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Preceded by Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree Similar The Stone Woman, Shadows of the Pomegra, A Sultan in Palermo, Night of the Golden Butterfly, The Islam Quintet: Shadows | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Book of Saladin is an historical novel by Pakistani born British writer Tariq Ali, first published in 1998. The second in Ali’s Islam Quintet, this purports to be the memoir of Saladin, or Salah al-Din and his taking of Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187.
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Synopsis
Written as part memoir by Saladin and part biography by Jewish scribe Ibn Yakub, who is given permission to interview the great man’s wife and close associates, this is the story of Salah al-Din, a Kurdish warrior who became the hero of the Muslim world due to his heroics against the Crusaders and was made Sultan of Egypt and Syria as a reward. Parallels are drawn between the Egypt and Syria of the middle ages and the Middle East arena of the present day, with all of the disagreements and strife so familiar today.