- Cultural history
- Digital humanities
- Literary translation
- Reception theory
- Renaissance and earlymodern literature, especially Milton and Shakespeare
Inaddition toliterature and history, Islam'sresearchtouches on severaldisciplines including cultural studies, visual art, media studies, music, philosophy, sociology, and theology.
Islam'srenowned exhibition, Stories of Sacrifice, had over50,000 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 usedby schoolteachers nationally, as demonstrated in his4* impact casestudy (REF 2021).
Books
Alexandria: The City that Changed the World(, 2023; , 2024). Winner of the Runciman Award. The Times, Sunday Times, TLS, Booklist, Epoch Times, Athens Voice, andWaterstonesBook of the Year. Translated into six languages (, ,, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish).
(Oxford University Press, 2023).[ed. with Angelica Duran] Winner of the Milton Society of America's Irene Samuel Award.
(Routledge, 2021).
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2018); paperback 2019. [ed. with David Currell]
(Oxford University Press, 2017). [ed. with Angelica Duran and Jonathan Olson] Winner of the Milton Society of America's Irene Samuel Award.
(Routledge, 2016); paperback 2018.Winner of the Milton Society of America's Outstanding First Book Award.
Journal Articles
“”,Cankaya Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences18.1 (2024).
“”,Milton Studies63.1 (2021).
“Rethinking Islamophobia: From Renaissance to World War One”,Oxford Islamic Studies Online3.1 (2020). [with ImranAwan]
"'”, The Muslim World, 108.3 (2018), 367-386. [with Imran Awan]
“”,Times Literary Supplement 5981 (2017).
“”, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, 55.1 (2015), 197-214.
“”, English Studies, 96.1 (2015), 82-101.
“”, 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 PaintingParadise Lost”, inMilton Across Borders and Media, eds. Islam Issa and Angelica Duran (Oxford University Press, 2023). ڷɾٳRichard Kenton Webb and Angelica Duran]
“Milton Lost and Regained in Turkey”, inMilton 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’”, inMilton Across Borders and Media, eds. Islam Issa and Angelica Duran (Oxford University Press, 2023).ڷɾٳAngelica Duran]
“Antony and Cleopatra in Arabic”, in, eds. Ewan Fernie and Tom Epps(ֱ̽: History West Midlands, 2022).
"How literature shapes history”, in, eds. Helen Carr and Suzannah Lipscomb (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2021).
“When Shakespeare travelled with me”, in(London: Penguin / BBC Audio, 2021).
“Rebel Angels: Milton, Epstein’sLucifer,and the Kashmiri Sitter”, in, eds. Angelica Duran and Mario Murgia (London: Lexington Books, 2021). [with Matthew Geary]
“Milton’s Areopagitica in the Arab World Today”, in , 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 , 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 theTimes 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 Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon (May 2017 – September 2018).Exhibition tour includes: Royal ֱ̽ Conservatoire.
Sole Researcher and Curator: "", Shakespeare Centre/Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (April 2018).
Selected Magazine/Newspaper Articles
“”, BBC History Magazine (December 2024), feature length.
“”, BBC History Magazine (March 2024), feature length.
“Julius Caesar and the drama of politics”, BBC History Magazine (January 2024).
“”,The New Statesman (October 2017).
“”, The Guardian (September 2017).