- Cultural history
- Digital humanities
- Literary translation
- Reception theory
- Renaissance and early modern literature, especially Milton and Shakespeare
In addition to literature and history, Islam's research touches on several disciplines including cultural studies, media, music, philosophy, theology, and visual art.
Islam's renowned exhibition, Stories of Sacrifice, had over 50,000 visitors, 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, as demonstrated in his 4* impact case study (REF 2021).
Books
Alexandria: The City that Changed the World (Hodder & Stoughton, UK, 2023; Simon & Schuster, USA, 2024). Winner of the Runciman Award. The Times, Sunday Times, TLS, Booklist, Epoch Times, Athens Voice, and Waterstones Book of the Year. Translated into six languages (Greek, Indonesian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish).
Milton Across Borders and Media (Oxford University Press, 2023). [ed. with Angelica Duran] Winner of the Milton Society of America's Irene Samuel Award.
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 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
“Uncovering ‘Islamic Art’: al-Birūnī and the Ilkhanid Miniatures”, Cankaya Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 18.1 (2024).
“Researching Milton in Egypt: Politics, Portraiture, and Pasta”, Milton Studies 63.1 (2021).
“Rethinking Islamophobia: From Renaissance to World War One”, Oxford Islamic Studies Online 3.1 (2020). [with Imran Awan]
"'Certainly the Muslim is the very devil incarnation': Islamophobia and The Merchant of Venice”, The Muslim World, 108.3 (2018), 367-386. [with Imran Awan]
“Milton’s Satan and the struggle for power”, Times Literary Supplement 5981 (2017).
“Transforming Milton’s Paradise Lost into Arabic”, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, 55.1 (2015), 197-214.
“Milton’s Areopagitica in the Arab World Today”, English Studies, 96.1 (2015), 82-101.
“Fragmentation, Censorship and an Islamic Journal: A History of the Translations of Milton into Arabic”, Milton Quarterly, 46.4 (2012), 219–32. Winner of the Michael K. O’Rourke PhD Best Publication Award (2013).
Book Chapters
“The Synergies of Drawing and Painting Paradise Lost”, in Milton Across Borders and Media, eds. Islam Issa and Angelica Duran (Oxford University Press, 2023). [with Richard Kenton Webb and Angelica Duran]
“Milton Lost and Regained in Turkey”, in Milton Across Borders and Media, eds. Islam Issa and Angelica Duran (Oxford University Press, 2023). [with Mustafa Kirca, Hasan Baktir, Murat Ogutcu, and Angelica Duran]
“Introduction: ‘The meaning not the name’”, in Milton Across Borders and Media, eds. Islam Issa and Angelica Duran (Oxford University Press, 2023). [with Angelica Duran]
“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 King Charles III; 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).
Magazine/Newspaper Articles (selected)
“Islam Issa on an influential medieval treatise on the study of history”, (August 2025).
“Egypt’s great pyramids at Giza weren’t built by foreign slaves”, (June 2025).
“Egypt’s grape expectations: Ancient Egyptian wine”, (May 2025), feature length.
“Where is Alexander the Great’s tomb? Closer than many people think”, (January 2025).
“Long road to paradise: the life of John Milton”, BBC History Magazine (December 2024), feature length.
“Alexandria: the ancient world’s greatest city”, BBC History Magazine (March 2024), feature length.
“Julius Caesar and the drama of politics”, BBC History Magazine (January 2024).
“12 things you didn’t know about Paradise Lost”, The New Statesman (October 2017).
“The Middle East could use a dose of Paradise Lost”, The Guardian (September 2017).
