I spoke to one of the world's leading authorities on the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, about why war persists, the prophetic approach to conflict and diplomacy, the challenge of historical objectivity and methods of contextualising prophetic practice.
Part 2 of this conversation will focus on contemporary questions that pertain to restraint, proportionality and accountability in an age of increasingly powerful and sophisticated weapons.
Prof Joel Hayward is Dean of the Sycamore Leadership Academy. He is the author or editor of 18 books and major monographs and over forty peer-reviewed articles, mainly in the fields of strategic studies, military history and the ethics of war and conflict.
Hayward has given strategic advice to political and military leaders in several countries, and was tutor Prince William. In 2011 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and in 2012 as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. In 2016 he was named as the “Best Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences” at the Middle East Education Leadership Awards.
Visit Prof Joel's website: https://joelhayward.org
Follow Prof Joel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professor-joel-hayward-2aa2248/
(0:00) Joel’s interest in warfare
(4:23) Is war inevitable?
(8:29) The nature of prophetic conflict
(21:02) Understanding prophetic raids
(33:18) Prophetic wisdom and clemency
(43:50) Are humans good or bad?
(54:16) Reconstructing historical incidents
(1:09:55) Contextualising prophetic example
