A palm tree stands in the middle of Rusafa

A palm tree stands in the middle of Rusafa is a poetic line by Abd al Rahman, included among the songs noted in the book’s source material. Its significance here lies in that documented literary lineage: the line is translated by D. F. Ruggles and cited by Maria Rosa Menocal in The Ornament of the World, a source the author names in connection with research on Granada and the culture of al-Andalus.

Text and Source

The line is attributed to Abd al Rahman. The note identifies D. F. Ruggles as its translator and Maria Rosa Menocal’s The Ornament of the World as the source in which the translation was quoted. It gives no further information about the poem’s date, original context, or the circumstances in which the line was composed, so its documented history in the book is chiefly one of transmission: from Abd al Rahman, through translation and quotation, into the novel’s research materials.

Place in the Book’s Research

The line appears in a note on songs alongside traditional songs about Granada, but the note distinguishes it from them by naming its author and literary source. Elsewhere in the same note, the author describes researching Granada and seeking to give voice to the people and culture of al-Andalus, including the ideal of conviviencia among Jews, Muslims, and Christians. The Rusafa image therefore belongs to a wider effort to bring Muslim Spain’s literary inheritance into the book, while the evidence does not specify how or where the line recurs in the narrative.