A Sultan in Palermo

The fourth novel in Tariq Ali’s Islam Quintet charts the life and loves of the medieval cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi. Torn between his close friendship with the Sultan and his friends who are leaving Sicily or plotting a resistance to Norman rule, Idrisi find temporary solace in the harem; but 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.