Rereading The Clash of Civilizations in Tariq Alis Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree
This article reflects Tariq Ali's efforts to understand the reality of the myth of 'the clash of civilizations' as a socio-materialist scientist to metabolize compellingly inter-connected dimensions of historical 'reality'. The deconstruction of the historic reality provides us with a new prism to view the world from different perspectives, looking at new directions in the politico-historic enterprise. West has had a long tradition of misinterpreting the Crusades as holy wars were meant for the glorification of Christian divine faith, and they have become a metaphor for blessing humanity with West's superior moral values against the 'horror' of Islam. Western academia has been promoting this deceptive view of two 'incommensurable' civilizations. Huntington stretches this view to develop his philosophy of 'the clash of civilizations'. Tariq Ali is a Marxist socialist who interprets the Spanish history and rewrites the history of the Muslims' relationship and the Christians from a materialist perspective to disprove Huntington's thesis that Islam and Christianity are inherently incompatible for peaceful coexistence because of their totalizing teleological claims. Ali's Islam Quintet, a sequence of five novels, exposes the imperialist agenda behind the clash theory. This article analyzes Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, the first novel of Ali's Islam Quintet, to evaluate Ali's critique of the clash of civilizations.
-
(1)
(3) Mazhar Hayat
Professor, Department of English Literature, Govt. College University Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
- Ali, T. (2000). Shadows of the pomegranate tree. Islamabad: Alhamra.
- Ali, T. (2003). The clash of fundamentalisms: crusades, jihads and modernity. London: Verso
- Barsamian, D. (2005). Speaking of Empire and Resistance: Conversations with Tariq Ali. New York: The New Press.
- Sahi, A. (2007, September 09). Particular viewpoint. News on Sunday. on September 19, 2020, http://tariqali.org/archives/1019.
- Armstrong, K. (2001). Holy war: The crusades and their impact on today's world. New York: Anchor Books.
- Sayeed, S. (2006, October 25). The problem lies in the unwillingness to recognize that your own terrorism is terrorism. Excalibur online. On July 12, 2020, https://chomsky.info/20061025/.
- Chomsky, N. (2008, July 8). It's the oil, stupid! Khaleej Times. On August 15, 2020, https://chomsky.info/20080708/.
- Esposito, J. L. (1999). The Islamic threat: Myth or reality? New York: Oxford University Press.
- Halliday, F. (1996). Islam and the myth of confrontation. New York: I. B. Tauris.
- Huntington, S.P. (2011). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. UK: Simon & Schuster.
- Irwin, R. (1997). Saladin and the Third Crusade: A case study in historiography and the historical novel. Companion to Historiography. Bentley, M. (Ed.). London: Routledge.
- Lewis, B. (1990). The roots of Muslim rage. The Atlantic. on September 10, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1990/09/the-roots-of-muslim-rage/304643/.
- Maalouf, A. (1994). Leo the African, (trans.) Sluglett, P. London: Abacus
- Nawwab, I. I. (2001). Muslims and the West in History. Muslims and the West: encounter and dialogue.
- Ansari, Z. I., & Esposito, J. L. (Eds.). Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute press
- Said, E. W. (2016). Orientalism. Western conceptions of the orient. India: Penguin.
- Savory, R. M. (1976). Christendom vs Islam: Interaction and co-existence. England: Cambridge university press.
Cite this article
-
APA : (2020). Rereading The Clash of Civilizations in Tariq Alis Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree. Global Social Sciences Review, V(IV), 86-92. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2020(V-IV).10
-
CHICAGO : 2020. "Rereading The Clash of Civilizations in Tariq Alis Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree." Global Social Sciences Review, V (IV): 86-92 doi: 10.31703/gssr.2020(V-IV).10
-
HARVARD : 2020. Rereading The Clash of Civilizations in Tariq Alis Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree. Global Social Sciences Review, V, 86-92.
-
MHRA : 2020. "Rereading The Clash of Civilizations in Tariq Alis Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree." Global Social Sciences Review, V: 86-92
-
MLA : "Rereading The Clash of Civilizations in Tariq Alis Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree." Global Social Sciences Review, V.IV (2020): 86-92 Print.
-
OXFORD : (2020), "Rereading The Clash of Civilizations in Tariq Alis Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree", Global Social Sciences Review, V (IV), 86-92
-
TURABIAN : "Rereading The Clash of Civilizations in Tariq Alis Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree." Global Social Sciences Review V, no. IV (2020): 86-92. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2020(V-IV).10