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Radwa Ashour: ثلاثية غرناطة (Granada Trilogy)

Granada was a jewel in the crown of the Muslim rulers of Spain, not least because of the Alhambra Palace. However the Castilians, as the Spanish are called in this book, are fighting back and the Reconquista as it was known is gaining ground. When this book starts it is 1492 and the Castilians are attacking Granada. They do offer a peace treaty which seems fairly generous, allowing the Arabs to maintain their language, religion and culture. We follow some of the discussion among the Arab residents and there are mixed views. They should fight back, with the aid of other Arabs. The Castilians are not to be trusted. Some are in favour of accepting it, which is what happens.

Abu Jaafar,plays a key role early in in this book. He makes beautiful manuscripts. He has hired two orphan boys but once the Castilians take over, his sales drop dramatically. Some people move away. Many can no longer afford fine manuscripts. His wife is worried.

Ferdinand and Isabella will go on to create a new Spain. 1492 was not just key because the fall of Granada but also because of the voyage of Christopher Columbus. He will even pay a visit to Granada in this book and everyone turns out to welcome him. But Ferdinand and Isabella are determined to make Spain Spanish and Catholic and remove traces of Arab rule. We see this gradually happening both in Granada but also elsewhere, such as Malaga.

There has been a treaty which allows the Arabs to retain many of their rights but this is gradually whittled away. Abu Jaafar and others move their books out of town and hide them away but this is not enough. They witness a huge book-burning and Abu Jaafar is devastated. Before going to bed that night he said to his wife, “I will die naked and alone, because God does not exist.”
And he died.

Abu Jaafar had employed two young men . Naeem had lost his family in Malaga and Abu Jaafar had taken him in. Saad also was taken on as a boy. When Abu Jaafar dies Saad goes to work for Abu Mansour in the baths, while Naeem goes to work for a shoemaker. The two remain close friends. However the Castilians are continuing their efforts and public baths are banned, leaving Saad without a job. Naeem manages to trick his employer into hiring Saad. Both young men are of marriageable age. Saad marries Salima, Abu Jaafar,’s granddaughter while Hasan, Salima’s brother marries Maryama, whom he sees in a parade. Naeem, however, has a variety of problems when it comes to marriage.

The next issue is that the Castilians require all the population to be baptised and become Christian. Some leave. Most go through the motions. However, there are associated changes. Mosques are converted into churches, possession of Arabic books and manuscripts is strictly forbidden and women are not allowed to wear the traditional Arab head coverings. Maryama comments I know that I am Maryama and this is my daughter Ruqaya, so will anything much change if the rulers of the country give me a paper stating that my name is Maria and that hers is Anna? Saad has had enough and will go off to join the rebels, returning briefly to father Ali, before heading back to the rebels.

But they do fight back in their own way. They gloat over the fact that the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella is mad, saying it is God’s punishment. Maryama, in particular, becomes known for her actions, such as convincing a priest that Arab boys are born circumcised. The people of the quarter loved her because she was Maryama, and because her deeds gave them those moments of lively delight.

But the Castilians are increasing their control. Naeem, for example, now works for a priest, Father Miguel and he persuades Naeem to accompany him to the New World. Naeem has little reason to stay and goes with him. He soon finds out that the Castilians are even more ruthless towards the native population in the New World than towards the Arabs in Granada, and have no qualms about killing them, often just for sport. Naeem meets and marries a local woman but, in the long run, it does not work out and, many years later, he is back in Granada.

Maryama has become the key character but when he grows up, her grandson, Ali, will become the key character. Salima, Saad’s wife makes medicinal potions for her family but the Inquisition arrest her for practising black magic and the outcome is not good.

Naeem has now returned but he did not find Granada in Granada, nor Albaicin in Albaicin. The Castilians introduce further restrictions such as forbidding the use of Arabic, both written and spoken, banning the use of Arab names and, indeed, banning anything associated with Arab culture. Hasan teaches Ali Arabic but Ali will be a rare case of an Arab in Granada who can speak, read and write Arabic.

However things are getting worse. Soldiers now search houses and when they search the house of the now elderly Maryama, they are quite brutal. Ali has got a job as a furniture maker and is doing well but when the Rebellion of the Alpujarras breaks out things get worse. They see the captured rebels – men and women – sold as slaves. Then an edict is issued expelling all men men over fourteen and under sixty , later extended to everyone, except those in special professions.

The expulsion march is harrowing. Maryama dies and Ali has had enough. He kills a guard and flees and wanders around deserted villages for a long time. He eventually returns to Granada but things are not as before and he is again forced to leave. He manages to land up in a village when he was looking for his aunts (whom he had never met) and starts a new life. He falls in love but, of course that does not work out. The feudal lord who owns the village becomes more and more repressive. They do get some good news – the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the British. They have no idea who the British are but they are revered for their actions. Another rebellion is planned, with the aid of the French, but this does not work out. Finally there is another mass deportation.

Ashour has no doubt that the Arabs are the victims here. They had, in her view a superior culture, particularly as regards the decorative arts, a superior religion, far less cruel and vicious than Spanish Christianity, particularly the Inquisition and were far nicer people. While the Arabs in this book are by no means all saints – quite a few behave badly – most are well-meaning, big on community spirit and living a decent, responsible,caring life. The Spanish come out for the most part as vicious, evil and cruel. There are a few exceptions but very few. Seeing these issues from the Arab persective is what makes this book so interesting for Western readers and, of course, Ashour tells a an excellent story of how ordinary people were affected during a tumultuous period of history.

Publishing history

First published in 1994 by Dar al-Hilal
First English translation in 2024 by Hoopoe
Translated by Kay Heikkinen
Note that the first book in the trilogy was published by Syracuse University Press in 2003, translated by William Granara