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Tariq Ali: A Leading Figure of the International Left

Featuring beautiful new editions of Tariq Ali's Islam Quintet.

10 February 2026

Books by Tariq Ali

Tariq Ali has been a leading figure of the international left since the 60s. From the student movement in Pakistan to the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, from Trotsky to Malcolm X, from Lenin to Lennon, his works have had a seismic and global influence on leftist thought.

Here he discusses the Islam Quintet, a series of novels written across twenty years that challenge easy assumptions about Islamic history held both by Islamophobes, and by those within the Islamic world.

The Islam Quintet

Ali's acclaimed series of five novels form an epic panorama that begins in 15th century Moorish Spain, and closes in the 21st century cities of Lahore, London, Paris and Beijing. These historical novels examine the encounters among Muslims, Christians, and Jews through the ages, from the Crusades to twenty-first-century London.

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Memoir

Exploring everything from the revolutionary upsurge of the 1960s to the present moment we find ourselves in, Ali's memoirs paint a portrait of life on the Left.

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Theory

Including an insightful portrait of Lenin’s deepest preoccupations, an essential critique of Obamaism, and a discussion of the future of socialist politics in Britain.

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Internationalism

Ali maintains an international perspective in his work, writing on the War on Terror, the unending occupation of Kashmir, and the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela.

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Filed under: author-ali-tariq