Worlds of Islam

From its birth in seventh-century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move. In Worlds of Islam, James McDougall explores its origins and transformations from Late Antiquity to the digital age. As empires fell and new superpowers rose, Muslims - now spread out across the world - proved to be as adaptable and dynamic as modernity itself. Building on a wealth of textual and cultural sources in Arabic and other languages and rich with individual biographies, the book aims to bridge the gap between the rich and detailed specialist scholarship and the noise of contemporary public debate, news and commentary. Sweeping, authoritative and humane, Worlds of Islam explores the many ways Islam has made world history - and how Muslims, and the worlds they live in, have re-made Islam.

James McDougall has taught history at Princeton; the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; and Oxford, where he has been a Fellow of Trinity College since 2009, and where from 2018 to 2025 he was Professor of Modern and Contemporary History. The author of two previous books, his writing has appeared in The Guardian, Foreign Affairs, and The New Statesman.