'A brilliant and captivating work ... There is simply no better book on Islam in history' Eugene Rogan
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.
Over the span of a thousand years, armies, missionaries, and merchants carried it to the edges of Europe, the coasts of Southeast Asia, and the remote interior of China. By the nineteenth century, Islam encompassed a world of great diversity, from Muslim-ruled empires to nations where Muslims lived out their faith among many others. In the twentieth century, while monarchs in the Gulf asserted dynastic privilege and fundamentalists in Egypt and Pakistan preached social morality, revolutionaries from Algeria to Indonesia fought for national self-determination, and activists in North America and Europe campaigned for civil liberties and social justice.
As empires fell and new superpowers rose, Muslims proved to be as adaptable and dynamic as modernity itself. Sweeping and authoritative, Worlds of Islam narrates the epic story of how Muslims emerged as a community, built empires, traversed the globe, came to number in the billions, and became modern.
| ISBN: | 9780241528488 |
| Publication date: | 20th January 2026 |
| Author: | James McDougall |
| Publisher: | Allen Lane an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 608 pages |
| Genres: |
Islam History of religion Social groups: religious groups and communities General and world history Middle Eastern history History: specific events and topics |
'A brilliant and captivating work ... There is simply no better book on Islam in history' Eugene Rogan
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.
Over the span of a thousand years, armies, missionaries, and merchants carried it to the edges of Europe, the coasts of Southeast Asia, and the remote interior of China. By the nineteenth century, Islam encompassed a world of great diversity, from Muslim-ruled empires to nations where Muslims lived out their faith among many others. In the twentieth century, while monarchs in the Gulf asserted dynastic privilege and fundamentalists in Egypt and Pakistan preached social morality, revolutionaries from Algeria to Indonesia fought for national self-determination, and activists in North America and Europe campaigned for civil liberties and social justice.
As empires fell and new superpowers rose, Muslims proved to be as adaptable and dynamic as modernity itself. Sweeping and authoritative, Worlds of Islam narrates the epic story of how Muslims emerged as a community, built empires, traversed the globe, came to number in the billions, and became modern.
Worlds of Islam features in the following genres: Islam, History of religion, Social groups: religious groups and communities, General and world history, Middle Eastern history, History: specific events and topics
Worlds of Islam is available in Paperback, Hardback
Worlds of Islam was written by James McDougall and published by Allen Lane an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd
Worlds of Islam has 608 pages
£36.00