The fourth novel in Tariq Ali's "Islam Quintet" is set in medieval Palermo, a Muslim city rivaling Baghdad and Cordoba in size and splendor. The year is 1153. The Normans occupy Siqilliya, but Arab culture and language dominate the island and the court. Sultan Rujari (King Roger) surrounds himself with Muslim intellectuals, several concubines and an administration presided over by gifted eunuchs.
In this captivating novel, Tariq Ali charts the life and loves of the medieval cartographer, Muhammed al-Idrisi. Torn between his close friendship to the Sultan and his friends who are leaving the island or plotting a resistance to Norman rule, Idrisi finds temporary solace in the harem; but, confronted by the common people of Noto and Catania and the Trusted One, his conscience is troubled.
A Sultan in Palermo is a mythic novel in which pride, greed and lust intermingle with resistance and greatness. It echoes a past that can still be heard today.
- ISBN10 1844670252
- ISBN13 9781844670253
- Publish Date 17 July 2005
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 10 September 2016
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Verso Books
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 256
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781844670253