Worlds of Islam

Brought to you by Penguin. From its emergence in seventh century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move. 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. From the Arab caliphate to the Mongol empire, from West Africa to the Philippines, Islam was a world-shaping force. By the nineteenth century, Muslims lived everywhere from South Africa to North America. In the age of European empires, through two World Wars and a Cold War, and into the globalised and fractured 21st century, Muslims lived through global conflicts and everyday struggles for adaptation and survival. In Worlds of Islam, historian James McDougall charts the epic global story of Islam’s origins and transformations, as Muslims adapted to their changing times from late antiquity to the digital age, constantly remaking their own worlds as the wider world around them changed. Sweeping in scope and colourful in detail, Worlds of Islam shows how Islam’s place in the world has been part of how the world – with all its frictions and inequalities, its promises and aspirations – became modern. © James McDougall 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026