Tariq Ali's the Book of Saladin: A Khaldunian Study

Abstract

The Book of Saladin is Ali's metafictional retelling of the conquest of Jerusalem by Salah ad-Din Ayubbi and the rise of the Ayyubid Dynasty. Ali believes that by acquiring the desired social solidarity (Asabiyyah) and displaying the best elements of the Muslim civilization (Umran), Salah ad-Din raised the Ayyubid Dynasty to its grandeur. The fall of Christians and the rise of the Muslims happened in a cyclic mode; therefore, Ibn Khaldun's cyclic theory of the rise and fall of civilizations from his Muqaddimah suits to the theoretical framework of the present research. The study deconstructs the politics of Eurocentric perceptions about the history of crusades and traces the trajectory of the present socio-political conflicts in the Middle East. This paper concludes that for the sake of global peace, Christians and Muslims must liberate themselves from the roots of their bloody historical clashes especially the painful memories of the crusades.