In our latest instalment of Writer’s Reads, Tharik Hussain shares his top literary picks for you to peruse…
Tharik Hussain is an award- winning author and historian specialising in Muslim heritage and culture, whose new book, Muslim Europe, charts Europe’s 1,400-year Islamic history. Discover his favourite reads below…
Travels of Ibn Jubayr (2020) by Ibn Jubayr, translated by Ronald JC Broadhurst
A fascinating and revelatory glimpse into, among other places, medieval Arab- Norman-Christian Sicily, told through the eyes of an undervalued Valencian Muslim traveller.
The Alhambra (2005) by Robert Irwin
A work that seeks to uncover the inner soul of the fabled palace-city, blending history, mysticism and architectural insight.
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Orientalism (1978) by Edward Said
A groundbreaking text that dismantled the idea of the ‘objective’ Western scholar and reshaped modern understandings of cultural representation.
The Ornament of the World (2002) by Maria Rosa Menocal
A vivid and accessible portrait of medieval al-Andalus, revealing a world where Muslims, Christians and Jews created a rich and dazzling culture.
Empireland (2021) by Sathnam Sanghera
A necessary and sometimes uncomfortable examination of how imperialism continues to shape modern Britain.
Songs at the River’s Edge (1995) by Katy Gardner
An intimate and poetic account of life in a Bangladeshi village, written with the eye of an anthropologist and the voice of a storyteller.
One Thousand Roads to Mecca (1999), edited by Michael Wolfe
An anthology of pilgrimage narratives spanning nearly a millennium, offering diverse and deeply human perspectives on Islam’s holiest cities.
Desperately Seeking Paradise (2004) by Ziauddin Sardar
A funny and thought-provoking autobiographical journey through competing Muslim ideologies and the search for spiritual meaning.
