The Islam Quintet

Tariq Ali's acclaimed series of five novels addressing the long history of the clash of Islam and the West. Compared to Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy, Ali's novels form an epic panorama that begins in fifteenth-century Moorish Spain with Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree, and closes in the twenty- first-century cities of Lahore, London, Paris and Beijing with Night of the Golden Butterfly.
"Prompted to start the Islam Quintet by hearing a comment during the Gulf war that Muslims have no culture, Tariq Ali has gone back through different periods of Islamic history to show times when learning and culture were synonymous with Islam-and appreciated as such by the most enlightened Christians." Guardian
The series is now reissued in a beautiful new design, and available as a complete set.