Powerful Contentions and Resistance in Tarik Ali’s Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (1992), and Radwa Ashourr’s Granada: A Novel (2001)

Abstract

Contemporary discourse reflects an intensified desire for social and intellectual emancipation. The year 1492 may be understood as a pivotal historical juncture that precipitated profound transformations in Islamic Spain. Prior to this rupture, regions of the Iberian Peninsula under Islamic governance were often characterized albeit not without contestation by forms of coexistence among diverse religious communities. However, internal divisions and escalating hostilities culminated in its dissolution. Literary works such as Tariq Ali’s Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (1992), and Radwa Ashour’s Granada (2003) engage in counterfactual reimagining, envisioning alternative historical trajectories in which interreligious conflict and mass displacement might have been avoided. These texts interrogate the conditions under which more inclusive societies could have emerged. In parallel, the transatlantic ventures associated with Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci, alongside the later political projects of the Founding Fathers, may be interpreted as attempts to transcend the limitations of an “Old World” in decline, contributing to new epistemological and institutional formations. However, Muslim subjects whether performers, poets, or dramatists are frequently positioned within structures of constraint that necessitate negotiation with entrenched power modalities. Traditional formalist approaches and rigid identity frameworks may therefore be insufficient. Alternative methodologies attentive to hybridity, historical contingency, and power dynamics are required, raising unresolved questions about the possibility of a more equitable world.