CONFLICTED Re-Thinking Islam’s Global History
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Jan 8, 2026 In this enlightening conversation, James McDougall, a Professor at Oxford and author of Worlds of Islam: A Global History, explores the interwoven histories of Islam and the West. He challenges the myth of Islamic resistance to modernity, emphasizing how Islamic empires shaped global dynamics. McDougall discusses the implications of the Mongol sack of Baghdad, the role of Central Asia in Islamic history, and how Muslim thinkers redefined civilization concepts. He calls for a nuanced understanding of modernity as a shared global experience rather than a Western-dominated narrative.
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Islam Shaped Global Modernity
- Islam's history is inseparable from global modernity rather than a sideline to Western progress.
- James McDougall argues Islamic worlds helped shape the modern world long before European dominance.
Civilizations Are Historical Constructs
- The 'civilizations' category is an 18th–19th century European invention used to explain European dominance.
- McDougall warns this framing creates false bipolarities like Huntington's clash of civilizations.
Expansionism And Missionary Impulse
- Islam contains both missionary and political-expansionist impulses similar to Christianity.
- Those impulses were variably adopted by state builders and by non-political merchant and Sufi networks.
