Two books in English to read to better understand Islam and its history

Published in 2026, Worlds of Islam by James McDougall and The Renewal of Islam by Fitzroy Morrissey offer two complementary perspectives on the history of Muslim societies, the diversity of religious interpretations and the renewal of Islamic thought.

At a time when Islam is the subject of much debate, often reduced to slogans and simple ideas, two works published in English deserve particular attention. The first, Worlds of Islam: A Global Historyis written by historian James McDougall. The second, The Renewal of Islam: Thinkers and Believers of the Modern Erais signed by Fitzroy Morrissey, specialist in the intellectual history of the Muslim world.

Published in 2026, these two books follow different approaches, but share the same idea: Islam cannot be presented as a uniform, fixed and identical religion in all regions of the world.

A global history of Muslim societies

In Worlds of IslamJames McDougall traces the history of Islam from 7th-century Arabia to the present day. The author is not only interested in great dynasties, military conquests and political powers. It also gives an important place to merchants, travelers, scholars and Sufi brotherhoods who participated in the spread of Islam.

His story takes the reader from North Africa to Central Asia, from the Indian Ocean to Indonesia, via China and the Indian subcontinent. Islam then appears not as a single bloc, but as a religion lived by very different peoples and cultures. One of the main interests of the book is to remind us that the spread of Islam did not take place only by arms. Trade, travel and human exchange also played an essential role.

From the earliest centuries of Islam, Muslim traders used the sea routes connecting the Middle East, East Africa, India, China and Southeast Asia. As they settled in ports and trading towns, they founded families, created institutions, and developed relationships with local populations.

It is notably thanks to these networks that Islam has become lastingly established in Indonesia, today the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. In each region, Muslims have developed their own practices, traditions and forms of social organization. The book thus shows how Islam has adapted to very different languages, cultures and political situations, while retaining common religious references.

There is no single “Muslim world”

The plural chosen in the title, Worlds of Islamis important. James McDougall does not speak of a single Islamic world, but of several “worlds of Islam”. This expression allows us to show the diversity of Muslim experiences. The Islam experienced by an Indonesian merchant, a scholar from Cairo, an Andalusian mystic or a Muslim family settled in China is not always expressed in the same way.

These differences do not mean that there is no common ground. They simply show that religious texts are always read and applied in a particular historical, cultural and human context. This reality also allows us to better understand the debates that run through Muslim societies: the debates between tradition and reform, between literal reading and taking into account the context, or even between religious authority and political power.

Unlike the Catholic Church, Sunni Islam does not have a central institution capable of imposing a single interpretation on all believers. This absence of centralized clergy favors great intellectual diversity. But it also allows people without real religious training to present themselves as imam or sheikh.

The question of religious authority therefore remains important: who can interpret the texts? Using what method? And how can we distinguish serious religious knowledge from political or ideological discourse?

How to renew Islamic thought?

It is precisely these questions that Fitzroy Morrissey is interested in in The Renewal of Islam. While James McDougall provides a general history of Muslim societies, Morrissey focuses more on the scholars, thinkers, and believers who sought to renew the understanding and practice of Islam.

His book returns in particular to the notion of tajdidwhich means the renewal of religion. In the Muslim tradition, the mujaddid is a person who appears at a given time to revive the faith, correct certain excesses and respond to the new challenges encountered by Muslims.

But renewal doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone. Some want to return to a practice that they consider to be more faithful to the first Muslim generations. Others seek to adapt jurisprudence, institutions and religious thought to the social, political or scientific changes of their time. The title of mujaddid was thus attributed to very different personalities, and sometimes opposed to each other. This diversity shows that the notion of reform has always provoked debate in Muslim history.

Fitzroy Morrissey studies the evolution of these renewal trends from the 19th century to the present day. It addresses in particular the questions of modernity, politics, history and the place of women.

Between fidelity to the texts and adaptation to the context

One of the main questions in the book concerns the interpretation of texts. Should a religious rule be applied in exactly the same way in all societies and in all times? Or should we take into account the context, the general interest and the higher objectives of Islamic law, called the maqasid al-sharia ?

This discussion is not new. For centuries, Muslim jurists have debated the place of reason, analogy, consensus, custom and the public interest in rule-making. Morrissey particularly mentions the transformations carried out in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi government is today seeking to distance itself from certain rigid interpretations formerly associated with the state. He further emphasizes the need to take into account the time, place and social realities in religious opinions. These changes can be presented as a new attempt to renew Islamic thought. However, they ask another question: can a religious reform carried out directly by political power be completely independent?

Ibn Arabi and the unity of existence

The work also gives space to figures like Ibn Arabi, an Andalusian mystic of the 12th and 13th centuries, often associated with the notion of wahdat al-wujudthe unity of existence. According to this conception, God represents absolute reality, while all of creation depends on Him for existence.

This thought, both influential and contested, has fueled a more open approach to religious diversity. In the 20th century, the Indian intellectual and politician Abul Kalam Azad was particularly inspired by this tradition to defend unity between Muslims and Hindus. Opposed to the partition of India, he considered that religious affiliations should not lead to the separation of populations.

His journey reminds us that debates on Islam are not limited to the Arab world. India, Africa, Turkey, Iran, and Southeast Asia have also produced their own thinkers, institutions, and reform projects.

Useful books in the current context

These two works are particularly useful in a period where Islam is often presented through questions of violence, immigration, radicalization or conflict with the West. They allow us to take a step back and place current debates in a much longer history. Above all, they remind us that Muslim societies have always experienced internal exchanges, developments and discussions.

They also show that adaptation is not necessarily a break with religion. In many periods of history, Muslim scholars have sought to address the problems of their time while remaining faithful to the principles of Islam.

Works accessible beyond the academic world

Even though they are written by researchers, these books are not just intended for specialists. They may be of interest to readers who wish to better understand the history of the Muslim world, students, teachers, journalists, but also Muslims who wonder about the diversity of their own religious history.

Reading requires a good command of English, but both works remain presented as accessible and written in a clear style. They can therefore constitute a good introduction to these questions, before continuing with more specialized studies.

Two additional readings

These two works do not seek to provide a definitive definition of Islam. On the contrary, they show that a religion present on several continents and lived by such different peoples cannot be confined to a single representation. Worlds of Islam tells the story of how Muslims built societies, empires, trade networks, and cultures across the world. The Renewal of Islam analyzes the way in which several generations of thinkers and believers have attempted to respond to the transformations of their time.

The first allows us to understand the historical and geographical diversity of Muslim societies. The second sheds light on the intellectual and religious debates that run through them. Two books in English to recommend to those who wish to go beyond the caricatures and discover a history of Islam made up of travels, exchanges, adaptations, debates and renewals.

The works

James McDougall, Worlds of Islam: A Global HistoryAllen Lane, 2026.

Fitzroy Morrissey The Renewal of Islam: Thinkers and Believers of the Modern EraBloomsbury, 2026.