Product Description

From his chlidhood in Fez, having fled the Christian Inquisition, through his many journeys to the East as an itinerant merhcant, Hasans story is a quixotic catalogue of pirates, slave girls and princesses, encompassing the complexities of a world in a state of religious flux. Hasan too is touched by the instability of the era, performing his hadj to Mecca, then converting to Christianity, only to relapse back to the Muslim faith later in life. In re-creating his extraordinary experiences, Amin Maalouf sketches an irrisistible portrait of the Mediterranea world as it was nearly five centuries ago - the fall of Granada, the Ottoman conquest of Egypt, Renaissance Rome under the Medicis: all contribute to a background of spectacular colour, matched only by the picaresque adventures of Hasan's life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16107 in Books
• Published on: 1994-09-22
• Original language: French
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Review
The most entertaining education we could wish for...Leo the African is a celebration of the romance and power of the Arab world, its ideals and achievements - Daily Telegraph Maalouf's fiction offers both a model for the future and a caution, a way towards cultural understanding and an appaling measure of the consequences of failure. He is a voice which Europe cannot afford to ignore - Guardian

About the Author
Amin Maalouf is a Lebanese journalist and writer. He was formerly director of the weekly international edition of the leading Meirut daily an-Nahar, and editor in chief of Jeune Afrique. He now lives in Paris with his wife and three children.

Customer Reviews

Superb
A facinating read, and a beautiful account of North African/Spanish events of the late 15th Century. Maalouf is clearly a gifted writer and I look forward to reading more from him.

A page-turner
This is a fascinating jaunt around the Med of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, filled with a wealth of knowledge of Moorish Spain, North Africa, Egypt, Constaninople, Italy...Refreshing in that you get a look at life through Islamic eyes, it also deals with obsessive love, ambition, revenge, princesses and slave girls, sultans and popes, pirates and imams. A great fairytale of a novel, it's even better if you read it, as I did, in a village in the mountains south of Granada.

Leo The African
This has to be one of the most amazing books I have read in my life - Leo the African. It's a story of a 16th century Muslim traveller writer from Granada - Hassan Al Wazzan. What this book did for me was explain the place of Muslim history in that of 16th century European history. I studied 16th century history at school but this is a part history that was either omitted or just not given any importance. I could not put this book down and cried when I finished this book. I did not want this magnificent journey in to Islamic history to finish.

It shows how historically Muslims, Christian and Jews have not been just each other's enemies but in fact each other's most faithful allies. Muslims have also killed Muslims and Christians have killed Christians. On the whole due to land and power not for faith.

The main message I obtained from this book is that no matter what religion or belief system you may follow we are all intrinsically linked with one another as human beings. Tolerance and acceptance, generosity are the only way forward and it is up to each and everyone of us to leave a legacy of what is wonderful about every faith and belief system behind us, for our children and future generations.
What has really changed this century? Well nothing and everything.

This book has reminded me why I am proud to be a Muslim and why I am so proud to have friends of all religions and beliefs. If you have a thirst to know more about Islamic history, you wont be disappointed.