Islam teaches across all periods and genres of literature, especially the early modern.
- Renaissance and early modern literature, especially Milton and Shakespeare
- Cultural history
- Digital humanities
- Literary translation
- Reception theory
In addition to literature and history, Islam's research touches on several disciplines including visual art, cultural studies, media studies, music, philosophy, sociology, and theology.
Islam's renowned exhibition, Stories of Sacrifice (2016-18), was visited by over 50,000 people at the British Muslim Heritage Centre, won numerous awards, and its findings were monumental, the Discovery Channel reporting that "Issa more than doubled the previously estimated figure of [Muslim WW1] soldiers after trawling through thousands of personal letters, historic archives, regimental diaries and census reports”. Its research informed the diversity and inclusion strategies of the British Armed Forces and Greater Manchester Police, and is used by schoolteachers nationally.
Research projects currently or recently supervised:
- PhD, "Gifts of the World? Creating and Contextualising the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's International Collection" (defended 2021)
- PhD, "Everything to Everybody? A Critical History of the World's Premier Public Shakespeare Library" (2021 – present)
Books
Alexandria: The City that Changed the World (Hodder & Stoughton, UK, 2023; Simon & Schuster, USA, 2024).
Milton Across Borders and Media (Oxford University Press, 2023). [ed. with Angelica Duran]
Shakespeare and Terrorism (Routledge, 2021).
Digital Milton (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018); paperback 2019. [ed. with David Currell]
Milton in Translation (Oxford University Press, 2017). [ed. with Angelica Duran and Jonathan Olson]. Winner of the Milton Society of America's Irene Samuel Memorial Award.
Milton in the Arab-Muslim World (Routledge, 2016); paperback 2018. Winner of the Milton Society of America's Outstanding First Book Award.
Journal Articles
“Researching Milton in Egypt: Politics, Portraiture, and Pasta”, Milton Studies 63.1 (2021).
“Rethinking Islamophobia: From Renaissance to World War One to the Radical Right”, Oxford Islamic Studies Online 3.1 (Spring 2020). [with Imran Awan]
"'Certainly the Muslim is the very devil incarnation': Islamophobia and The Merchant of Venice”, The Muslim World, 108.3 (July 2018), 367-386. [with Imran Awan]
“Milton’s Satan and the struggle for power”, Times Literary Supplement (November 2017).
“Transforming Milton’s Paradise Lost into Arabic”, SEL Studies in English Literature1500-1900, 55.1 (Winter 2015), 197-214.
“Milton’s Areopagitica in the Arab World Today”, English Studies, 96.1 (February 2015), 82-101.
“Fragmentation, Censorship and an Islamic Journal: A History of the Translations of Milton into Arabic”, Milton Quarterly, 46.4 (December 2012), 219–32. Winner of the Michael K. O’Rourke PhD Best Publication Award (2013).
Book Chapters
“Antony and Cleopatra in Arabic”, in Forgotten Treasures: The World’s First Great Shakespeare Library, eds. Ewan Fernie and Tom Epps (Birmingham: History West Midlands, 2022).
"How literature shapes history”, in What is History, Now?, eds. Helen Carr and Suzannah Lipscomb (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2021).
“When Shakespeare travelled with me”, in Instant Expert: 100 of the best ideas from New Generation Thinkers (London: Penguin / BBC Audio, 2021).
“Rebel Angels: Milton, Epstein’s Lucifer,and the Kashmiri Sitter”, in Global Milton and Visual Art, eds. Angelica Duran and Mario Murgia (London: Lexington Books, 2021). [with Matthew Geary]
“Milton’s Areopagitica in the Arab World Today”, in Reading Milton through Islam, eds. David Currell and François-Xavier Gleyzon (New York: Routledge, 2018).
“‘Milton! Thou Shouldst Be Living in These Media’”, in Digital Milton, eds. David Currell and Islam Issa (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). [with David Currell]
“The Online Revolution: Milton and the Internet in the Middle East”, in Digital Milton, eds. David Currell and Islam Issa (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
“Paradise Lost in Arabic: Images, Style, and Technique”, in Milton in Translation, eds. Angelica Duran, Islam Issa and Jonathan Olson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).
“From ‘Cambalu’ to ‘El Dorado’” (with Angelica Duran), in Milton in Translation, eds. Angelica Duran, Islam Issa and Jonathan Olson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017). [with Angelica Duran]
“Milton’s Global Impact: the Arabic-Speaking World”, in A New Companion to Milton, ed. Thomas Corns (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2016).
“Our Relationship with the Nile Today: A Consideration Through Romantic Poetry”, in Translation and Cultural Identity, ed. Mahmud Didamuny (Cairo: Hemmat Lashin Center for Culture & Creativity, 2014).
Exhibitions
Sole Researcher and Curator: "Stories of Sacrifice" – the first exhibition devoted to the Muslim contribution to World War One, British Muslim Heritage Centre, Manchester (January 2016 – January 2018). Winner of the Times Higher Education Awards 'Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences'; the Muslim News Awards 'Excellence in Community Relations Prize'; the Manchester Culture Awards ‘Highly Commended Exhibition’. Exhibition tour includes: Greater Manchester Police HQ; Manchester Central Library. VIP visitors include: HRH Charles, Prince of Wales; General Sir Nick Carter (Chief of UK Army); Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London).
Content Curator and Academic Advisor: "Shakespeare in South Asia", Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon (May 2017 – September 2018). Exhibition tour includes: Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Sole Researcher and Curator: "Ageless Cleopatra", Shakespeare Centre/Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (April 2018).
Selected Magazine/Newspaper Articles
“Why Arab Muslims love Paradise Lost – and their leaders hate it”, The Guardian (September 2017).
“12 things you didn’t know about Paradise Lost”, The New Statesman (October 2017).
Islam has represented the British Foreign Office and British Council at numerous events worldwide
He is Advocacy and Engagement Consultant to Birmingham City Council's major Shakespeare project "Everything to Everybody”.
Islam has offered consultancy to:
- BBC Arts (Poetry Season)
- BBC Drama (Arabic translation and pronunciation)
- BBC Radio 3 (Words and Music)
- Birmingham City Council
- Birmingham Museums Trust
- British Muslim Heritage Centre
- Library of Birmingham
- Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
- Shakespeare Institute
