Power politics, Hobbesian fear and the duty of self-preservation: Tariq Ali’s Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree

Abstract

Tariq Ali’s 1992 novel Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, the first in his Islam Quintet series, is set in the aftermath of the fall of Granada in the 15th century, and tells of the struggles of Muslims who were trying to preserve Islamic culture and their own material well-being in the face of the Inquisition. This article sees the novel as exploring the idea that during social upheavals, any previous power-sharing arrangements, based on a social contract or covenant, are often replaced by realpolitik. Thus, in Shadows, Muslims, formerly well integrated with their Catholic neighbors, become the enemy within. The article draws on Michael Ignatieff’s study of modern conflict between Serbs and Croats to show how abstract, conceptual and ideological hatred can vanquish concrete moments of identification. In such cases, perceived threats create fear which then governs behavior – the Hobbesian trap – and a doomsday spiral is set in motion, as war comes to seem a legitimate precaution. In exploring how its Muslim community reacts to the Catholic reconquest, Shadows provides a fictional analysis of power politics at its most basic level. It laments not simply a Muslim defeat, but the losses incurred when war is waged on the basis of unwarranted fear, greed and an overvalued sense of honor.

Keywords:

• Islam Quintet
• Christian reconquest
• Hobbesian fear
• social contract
• realpolitik