The Warrior Prophet: Muhammad and War by Joel Hayward

The Warrior Prophet is a rigorous historical biography that analyzes the military career of Muhammad using the earliest Arabic primary sources. Author Joel Hayward rejects the modern extremes of viewing Muhammad as either a ruthless warlord or a passive pacifist, demonstrating instead how he skillfully utilized strategic force to secure his community's survival. The book highlights Muhammad's human brilliance as a commander who balanced necessary power projection in 7th-century Arabia with a revolutionary, strict moral code of conduct in warfare.