The Book of Saladin by Tariq Ali

One handful of history and two handfuls of imagination – what would that give? A spiced up not-at-all-boring history book, a book which can entertain and teach at the same time. If you are suffering from history-phobia then I invite you to get hold of a few historical fictions. And one of the best historical fictions I would suggest is, Tariq Ali’s ‘The Book of Saladin’.

            It revolves around the life of the Kurdish leader Salah-al-din (Saladin in the west) at the end of 12^th century. Saladin hires a court scribe by the name Ibn Yakub to write his memoir and it’s through the scribe’s eyes that the readers read the book. A series of interconnected stories follow. Ibn Yakub chases the events of the time as Saladin leads the battle to regain Jerusalem from the ‘Franj’ (Crusaders, one of the many Arabic words used in the book and explained in the glossary). At the core of the novel is a touching love affair between the Sultan’s favourite wife, Jamila and the beautiful Halima.

            Our narrator, the down to earth scribe leads his own life under the shadow of Saladin, attending the superiors and the inferiors and hearing stories from the loyal retainers and members of the harem. All that and more combine to create a narrative journey that’s appealing to any reader; even the one who wouldn’t like to glance at a regular history book.

            Ali’s sense of humour plays an important part in the novel. He has a fondness for not-so-clean jokes, as his description of Richard I of England clearly demonstrates. The dialogue between a heretical crusader and Saladin is loudly laughable; it goes to the extent of using offensive comments in perfect Latin!

            Ali invites his reader to participate in the events of the time and to appreciate them from a different perspective. The central characters are very well drawn, the reasoning is plausible, the lifestyle of that time is clearly depicted… what more can be asked from a fictional memoir?

            Anybody who hasn’t read Tariq Ali can start from this book. And I am sure they’ll love it and track down the other books too.

            Happy reading!

            The book is available at Friends’ Book Corner, Nilkhet.

Tit-bits: Tolkien and his wife are buried in the same grave! Below his name on the tombstone is inscribed "Beren" and below Edith's name is inscribed "Lúthien", in honor of two characters from The Silmarillion.

Reviewed by

Efadul Huq