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Joel Hayward

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Joel Hayward
Joel Hayward 2022
Born (1964-05-27) 27 May 1964 (age 60)
Christchurch, New Zealand
NationalityNew Zealand
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Canterbury
Academic work
Discipline
Institutions
Main interestsWar and strategy; airpower, joint warfare, Quranic (Islamic) concepts of war, Islamic history.
Notable works
Websitewww.joelhayward.org

Joel Hayward (born 1964) FRHistS FRSA is a New Zealand-born British scholar, academic and writer.[1] He has been listed in the 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions of The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims.[2][3] He has been the Dean of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell and is now the Chief Executive of the Cambridge Muslim College in the United Kingdom.[4]

He is best known for his published books and articles on strategic and security matters, including the use of air power, his 2003 biography of Horatio Lord Nelson, his writing and teaching on the Islamic concepts of war, strategy and conflict, his Sirah works on Muhammad, and his works of fiction and poetry.[5][6] He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.[7][4][8] One of his most recent books, The Leadership of Muhammad: A Historical Reconstruction, was chosen as the Best International Non-Fiction Book at the 2021 Sharjah International Book Awards.[9][10][11] He was tutor to Prince William of Wales, the heir apparent to the British throne.[12][13][14]

Early life and education

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Joel Hayward was born on 27 May 1964 in Christchurch, New Zealand.[15]

In 1988 Hayward enrolled with the University of Canterbury in Christchurch to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classics and History, which he received on 8 May 1991.[16] Following this, he commenced a Master's Degree program in 1991.[17][18] For his thesis, Hayward analyzed the historiography of Holocaust denial.[19]

Hayward went on to pursue a PhD degree, also at University of Canterbury, again under the supervision of Vincent Orange.[20] His topic was an analysis of German air operations during the eastern campaigns of World War II, based on unpublished German archival sources.[20] In 1994, the U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency, located within the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, awarded him a research fellowship to conduct research for his dissertation in its archives. He subsequently received a research fellowship from the Federal Government of Germany which enabled him to conduct primary research in the German Military Archives in Freiburg, Germany.[21] Hayward was awarded his PhD in 1996. His dissertation, Seeking the Philosopher's Stone: Luftwaffe Operations during Hitler's Drive to the East, 1942–1943[22] became the basis of his first book,[20] Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East 1942-1943.[23]

Academic and professional career

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Massey University

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In June 1996 Hayward joined the History Department of Massey University (Palmerston North Campus) as a lecturer in defence and strategic studies,[24] receiving promotion to Senior Lecturer in August 1999. He specialized in the theoretical and conceptual aspects of modern warfare, airpower, joint doctrines, and manoeuvre warfare.[24] He continued in that position until June 2002.[25] He was made Head of the Defence and Strategic Studies program.[26]

From 1997 to 2004 he was also a lecturer at the Officer Cadet School of the New Zealand Army,[25] where he taught military history from Alexander the Great to the Balkan Wars,[24] and at the Command and Staff College of the Royal New Zealand Air Force,[25] where he taught airpower history and doctrine and supervised advanced research in military history.[24] During the same period he also taught strategic thought at the Royal New Zealand Naval College.[24][25] He also wrote academic articles for defence and strategic studies publications.[24]

Work in the United Kingdom

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Hayward lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 2004 to 2012[25] first teaching strategy and operational art at the Joint Services Command and Staff College. In November 2005 he became the head of the newly created Air Power Studies Division, a specialist unit of Defence Studies academics established by the Royal Air Force and King's College London at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell.[27] Hayward was appointed Dean of the RAF College, Cranwell in April 2007. He was a Director of the Royal Air Force Centre for Air Power Studies, the Air Force's national thinktank. He was also a member of the CAS Air Power Workshop, a small select working group of scholars and other theorists convened by the Chief of Air Staff (the head of the Royal Air Force.)

He is a member of the editorial advisory boards of the academic journals, Air Power Review and Global War Studies. He taught on air power concepts at various staff colleges and universities throughout Europe and in 2007 taught a course on "Air Power and Ethics" in Trondheim, Norway, to the Norwegian Air Force[28]

Work in the United Arab Emirates

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In November 2012, Hayward became full Professor of International and Civil Security in Khalifa University's Institute for International and Civil Security and in 2013 he became Chair of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Khalifa. He also serves there as the Director of the Institute of International and Civil Security. In 2014 he also joined the editorial board of the Islamic Studies journal, Islamic Rethink.[29] In 2016, he was named as the “Best Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences” at the Middle East Education Leadership Awards.[12][13]

Hayward and Islam

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Hayward (centre) at the "Tackling Extremism Promoting Peace and Integration" Conference, Northampton, 24 July 2011.

Hayward converted to Islam in 2005 and has lectured at anti-extremism workshops.[30] He supports Muslims serving in the British armed forces[31] and is a member of the UK Armed Forces Muslim Association.[citation needed] Hayward describes himself as "a moderate and politically liberal revert who chose to embrace the faith of Islam because of its powerful spiritual truths, its emphasis on peace and justice, its racial and ethnic inclusiveness and its charitable spirit towards the poor and needy."[32]

He said he worked with an international Muslim human rights and welfare group called Minhaj-ul-Quran and was appointed as strategic advisor to Tahir ul-Qadri and contributed to several of the group's anti-radicalisation workshops.[33]

He is considered to be one of "the world's five hundred most influential Muslims," with his listing in the 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions of The Muslim 500 stating that "he weaves together classical Islamic knowledge and methodologies and the source-critical Western historical method to make innovative yet carefully reasoned sense of complex historical issues that are still important in today's world.".[34][35][36]

1991 Master's thesis

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Hayward's 1991 M.A. thesis was judged the best history thesis of his year and it won him the Sir James Hight Memorial Prize for "excellence" and the honour of wearing the Philip Ross May Gown at the graduation ceremony.[37][38] The thesis was submitted in 1993 yet was unavailable for public study until 1999. When it became available, Hayward was accused of advancing arguments which gave credence to Holocaust deniers.[39][40][15] In 2000, at the request of the New Zealand Jewish Council, the University of Canterbury convened a "Working Party" which issued a report admonishing the university for inadequately supervising Hayward's work.[41] The report found that Hayward's thesis showed significant industry and no evidence of dishonesty but was "seriously flawed".[42] Subsequent to the issuance of the Working Party's report, the university apologized to the New Zealand Jewish community.[40][43] Hayward admitted inexperience and regret over his thesis.[44] The thesis was embargoed for an unusually long period, and he requested its removal from the university library, which was denied.[45]

Academics, politicians, and community leaders, including Act MP Rodney Hide and Roger Kerr, petitioned to clear Hayward's name and decry University of Canterbury's handling of the thesis issue.[46]

Despite what transpired, Hayward clearly upholds the sound and accepted scholarly assessment of the Holocaust. In 2010 he described it as "one of history’s vilest crimes … involving the organised murder of millions of Jews"[47] and in 2011 he similarly wrote: "The Holocaust of the Jews in the Second World War, one of history’s vilest crimes, involved the organised murder of six million Jews by Germans and others who considered themselves Christians or at least members of the Christian value system."[48] Likewise, in his 2012 book, Warfare in the Quran, he criticised "the undoubted evils of Nazism".[49] In a 2018 interview, he said: "I can’t help but conclude that humans are, by and large, rather unkind to each other and sometimes utterly hateful. … How else can we explain ordinary German soldiers and paramilitary people murdering six million Jewish civilians in history’s greatest atrocity?”[50][non-primary source needed]

Libel suit

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In October 2013, Hayward prevailed in a libel case against The Mail on Sunday and The Daily Mail, which had wrongly alleged that Hayward had unfairly favoured Muslim students at the RAF College, and he was awarded a retraction, an apology, and damages described as "substantial."[51]

Writing

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Hayward is the author or editor of eighteen non-fiction books, including Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East 1942-1943 (1998 and subsequent editions), an assessment of aerial warfare at the Battle of Stalingrad, and various books on the Prophet Muhammad and the Islamic ethics of war.[52]

Selected works

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Non-fiction

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  • (1998). Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East 1942-1943. Modern War Studies series. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0700608768.

— Softcover edition (2000). ISBN 978-0-7006-1146-1.

— Softcover edition (2019) ISBN 978-1612517797.

Fiction and poetry

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References

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  1. ^ "Professor Joel Hayward: The Scholar Who Found Islam and Wisdom in Warfare". islamchannel.tv.
  2. ^ Bardsley, Daniel (26 November 2022). "How New Zealand-born Joel Hayward became one of the world's 500 most influential Muslims". The National.
  3. ^ The Muslim 500: The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims 2025, p. 158 (PDF). Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Chief Executive: Professor Joel Hayward". Cambridge Muslim College. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Rough Guide to Islamic Rules of War". IRIN: Humanitarian News and Analysis. 24 April 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  6. ^ "Pakistan Today, 17 March 2011". Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  7. ^ "Royal Historical Society List of Current Fellows, Feb. 2023" (PDF).
  8. ^ "Prof. Joel Hayward". Islamic Institute for Development & Research. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  9. ^ Afkar Ali Ahmed. "Sheikh Sultan opens 40th Sharjah International Book Fair". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  10. ^ Professor Joel Hayward (New). "Sheikh Sultan opens 40th Sharjah International Book Fair". The Muslim 500. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  11. ^ Sheikh Sultan inaugurates 40th edition of Sharjah International Book Fair (3 November 2021). "Sheikh Sultan opens 40th Sharjah International Book Fair". The Saudi Gazette. Retrieved 8 October 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ a b "Cambridge Muslim College: Chief Executive: Professor Joel Hayward". Cambridge Muslim College. 12 October 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  13. ^ a b "Joel Hayward". Islamic Institute for Development & Research. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  14. ^ "The Leadership of Muhammad". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  15. ^ a b Scanlon, Sean. (20 May 2000). "Making history." The Press (Christchurch). Archived at the Nizkor Project. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
  16. ^ REPORT to the Council of The University of Canterbury of the Working Party established to enquire into: the circumstances under which the degree of Master of Arts (with First Class Honours) was awarded by the University in 1993 to Joel Stuart Andrew Hayward, on the basis of a thesis entitled 'The Fate of Jews in German Hands: An Historical Enquiry into the Development and Significance of Holocaust Revisionism'. (20 December 2000). Report to the Council of The University of Canterbury. University of Canterbury, p. 5.
  17. ^ Joel Hayward Working Party, 2000, p. 6.
  18. ^ Joel Hayward Working Party, 2000, pp. 12.
  19. ^ Joel Hayward Working Party, 2000, pp. 6-7.
  20. ^ a b c Joel Hayward Working Party, 2000, p. 26.
  21. ^ Hayward, Joel S.A. (1997). "Stalingrad: An Examination of Hitler's Decision to Airlift." Airpower Journal 11(1): 21–37. Spring 1997. Author note, also at [1]
  22. ^ Hayward, Joel. (1996). Seeking the Philosopher's Stone: Luftwaffe Operations during Hitler's Drive to the East, 1942–1943. PhD thesis. University of Canterbury, 1996.
  23. ^ Hayward, Joel. (1998). Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East 1942-1943. Modern War Studies series. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1146-0.
  24. ^ a b c d e f Joel Hayward Working Party, 2000, pp. 27.
  25. ^ a b c d e Joel Hayward's Books and Articles (official website). Accessed on 2007-06-20.
  26. ^ "National Defense College: Faculty: Joel Hayward". Archived from the original on 2 September 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  27. ^ "Staff at RAF Cranwell." King's College London website. Accessed 18 June 2007.
  28. ^ "Trondheim inviterer til sikkerhetspolitiske temadager 16.-17. oktober på Luftkrigsskolen."[permanent dead link] Youth Atlantic Treaty Association. Retrieved on 2008-12-29.
  29. ^ "The Editorial Board of Islamic Rethink Journal |". Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  30. ^ "Tackling Extremism Workshop, Sheffield Hilton, 25 February 2011". 2 February 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  31. ^ Taneja, Poonam (21 February 2011). "UK's Muslim soldiers "fighting extremists not Muslims". BBC Asian Network. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  32. ^ ""The Value of Restraint", by Dr Joel Hayward, The Invitation: Islamic Community Magazine, March-April 2011, p. 22, re-published online at xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com". Archived from the original on 1 December 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  33. ^ "Ex-Chch man 'Ayatollah of the RAF'". Stuff. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  34. ^ The Muslim 500: The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  35. ^ The Muslim 500: The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims 2024, pp. 120, 122 (PDF). Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  36. ^ The Muslim 500: The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims 2025, p. 158 (PDF). Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  37. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  38. ^ University of Canterbury, Graduations 1993, Christchurch Town Hall, 7, 8 and 9 May 1993, University of Canterbury, 1993, p. 14.
  39. ^ Walsh, Rebecca (22 December 2000). "A-plus equals anger for Jewish groups". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  40. ^ a b Jones, Jeremy. (26 December 2000). "New Zealand school apologizes for Holocaust denial thesis." Jerusalem Post "Earlier this year, Hayward, who is now a senior lecturer in defense and strategic studies at Massey University, apologized to the Jewish community, saying that he now disagrees strongly with his paper. [...] The university's vice chancellor, Daryl Le Grew, apologized to the Jewish community but said the university had no power to revoke the granting of the degree."
  41. ^ Joel Hayward Working Party, 2000, §5, pp. 64-69.
  42. ^ Joel Hayward Working Party, 2000, p. 2 and §6.1, p. 70.
  43. ^ "University apologises for Holocaust thesis". NZ Herald. 20 September 2023.
  44. ^ "Holocaust thesis ruined my life says historian". NZ Herald. 3 October 2023.
  45. ^ "A-plus equals anger for Jewish groups". NZ Herald. 3 October 2023.
  46. ^ "Petition to help Hayward - New Zealand News". NZ Herald. 3 October 2023.
  47. ^ "Hayward, J., "The Qur'an and War: Observations on Islamic Just War", Air Power Review, Vol. 13. No. 3 (2010), p. 45" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  48. ^ "Hayward, J., "Qur'anic Concepts of the Ethics of War: Challenging the Claims of Islamic Aggressiveness", Cordoba Foundation Occasional Paper (Series 2 April 2011), p. 23" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  49. ^ Joel Hayward, Warfare in the Quran English Monograph Series – Book No. 14. Amman, Jordan: Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, 2012, p. 50.
  50. ^ "Claritas Books: Interviews: Joel Hayward". Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  51. ^ "Associated Newspapers pays 'substantial' libel damages professor it branded 'Ayatollah of the RAF'". 14 October 2013.
  52. ^ "Joel S A Hayward works listed on WorldCat library catalog". worldcat.org. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  53. ^ Staff Reporter. "Book on World's Air Forces Released". The Gulf Today. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  54. ^ Dialogos (30 May 2022). "Joel Hayward, Muhammed, s.a.v.s, kao lider: historijska rekonstrukcija". dialogos.ba.
  55. ^ Dialogos (7 December 2022). "Joel Hayward, Etika rata u islamu". dialogos.ba.
  56. ^ "Joel Hayward Orcid 0000-0002-8015-3458". Orcid.
  57. ^ Claritas. "Joel Hayward, The Warrior Prophet: Muhammad & War". Calaritasbooks.com.

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