A significant number of Muslims today hold antisemitic views. Many justify their hostility by invoking the Palestinian issue—particularly Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack and the subsequent destruction in Gaza. They often claim to oppose Zionism and the occupation of Arab lands, not Judaism itself. Yet this explanation is incomplete. Antisemitism in Islamic thought predates the creation of Israel by over a millennium, tracing back to the early days of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
No tangible historical artifacts from Muhammad’s time—such as buildings, letters, decrees, coins, or weapons—survive. Authors aligned with the prevailing political-religious authorities compiled most early Islamic histories during the Abbasid Caliphate, a century or two after Muhammad’s death. The earliest biography of Muhammad, Ibn Ishaq’s Sirah, for example, was written more than a century after Muhammad’s death.
Antisemitism in Islamic thought predates the creation of Israel by over a millennium, tracing back to the early days of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
In the early seventh century CE, the Hijaz region had only a few settlements—Mecca, Yathrib (later Medina), Najran, and Dumat al-Jandal—which were more like villages than cities by Persian or Roman standards. Arabia’s sparse population and limited resources made it unappealing to the neighboring Byzantine and Persian empires. Most inhabitants were nomadic Bedouins; settled communities included both Arabs and Jews.
Harsh geography restricted agriculture, keeping economic life simple compared to other societies. Sedentary tribes like the Quraysh of Mecca traded between Yemen and the Levant, acting as intermediaries linking India and East Africa to the Mediterranean. Jewish communities, by contrast, engaged in artisan crafts and small industries. Some Islamic sources note that even Muhammad’s physician in Medina was a Jew.
Thanks to agriculture and well-digging, Jews generally enjoyed a higher standard of living—or at least less poverty—than their Bedouin neighbors. This economic disparity bred resentment. Bedouins indebted to Jewish moneylenders often blamed Jews for misfortunes to avoid repayment—a pattern that would recur in medieval Europe.
Islamic texts describe the pre-Islamic era as Jahiliyya (the Age of Ignorance), but in matters like women’s rights, freedom of expression, and religious tolerance, pre-Islamic Arabian society was arguably more open than what followed.
Before Muhammad’s emigration to Yathrib, the city’s population consisted of two Arab tribes (Aws and Khazraj) and three Jewish tribes (Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Nadir, and Banu Qurayza). There is no evidence of major conflict between Jews and Arabs until Muhammad’s arrival, because Mecca had relatively few Jews.
Tensions began when Muhammad claimed his prophethood was foretold in the Torah and urged the Jews to embrace Islam. Expecting recognition from a community awaiting a messiah, he was frustrated when, like Jesus before him, Jews rejected his claims.
In response, the Qur’an accused the Jews of concealing the truth and altering scripture—claims made without evidence but which became foundational in Islamic doctrine and endure to this day.
Muhammad promised his followers not only salvation but also power and wealth in this life. The spoils of war enriched his early community and attracted new converts, many drawn by material gains rather than spiritual conviction.
Muhammad promised his followers not only salvation but also power and wealth in this life.
In 624, after victory at the Battle of Badr, Muhammad accused Banu Qaynuqa of trading with Meccans and declared them enemies of Islam. Islamic sources cite an incident involving a Muslim woman and a Jewish man as a pretext. After a fifteen-day siege, the tribe surrendered. Muhammad intended to execute the men, but was dissuaded by Abd Allah ibn Ubayy, leader of the Khazraj. The Jews were expelled, and their possessions confiscated—20 percent went to Muhammad, and the rest to his fighters.
The following year, Muhammad turned on Banu Nadir, accusing them—without evidence—of plotting his assassination. Based on a supposed revelation from the Archangel Gabriel, he besieged them, burned their palm groves, and forced their surrender. They left Medina with their lives but without land or property. Again, Muhammad kept a fifth of the spoils and distributed the rest.
The most brutal episode came in 627 with Banu Qurayza. Despite a peace pact, Muhammad accused them of conspiring with Meccans. After a twenty-day siege, they surrendered, hoping for expulsion like the others. Instead, Muhammad ordered the execution of all adult men and the enslavement of women and children. Rayhana Bint Zayd, whose husband and sons were killed, was taken by Muhammad as a concubine.
Muslim historians say the beheadings—between 600 and 900—were carried out by Ali and Zubayr ibn Awwam. In this, the Islamic State’s self-declared caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who enslaved Yazidi girls and women and executed their men in 2014, was merely mimicking Muhammad’s actions against the Jews.
Jewish women and children were later sold in Najd’s slave markets. This pattern of violence extended to poets and critics. Al-Harith ibn Suwayd, a Muslim who criticized Muhammad, was executed. Abu ’Afak, an elderly Jewish poet, was killed for a satirical verse. Asma bint Marwan, another poet, met the same fate on Muhammad’s orders. He praised her killer, saying: “You have helped God and His Messenger.” In 624, two Jewish notables—Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf and Salam ibn Abu al-Huqayq—were also assassinated for their criticism of Muhammad and sympathy toward Meccans.
Without [Jewish] resources, the conquest of Mecca and expansion of Islam may not have been possible.
In 629, Muhammad launched a campaign against Khaybar, a prosperous Jewish settlement north of Medina. After a violent conquest, Jewish men were massacred, and women and children enslaved. Muhammad received his customary fifth of the plunder and claimed the most beautiful captive for himself. People in four villages surrendered and were spared only on the condition that they leave unarmed and without belongings. During this campaign, Kenana ibn al-Rabi’, suspected of hiding treasure, was tortured with hot stones before being executed. Muhammad took his widow, Safiyya, as a concubine.
With Jewish artisans, physicians, and farmers gone, Muhammad permitted Khaybar’s surviving Jews to remain temporarily to maintain productivity—though now working for their Muslim conquerors.
The expropriation of Jewish property enabled Muhammad to consolidate power and build the first Islamic state. Without these resources, the conquest of Mecca and expansion of Islam may not have been possible.
Following the fall of the Persian Empire, tens of thousands of Iranians—many skilled—were enslaved and brought to Arabia. Their presence reduced reliance on Jewish expertise. Citing Muhammad’s statement that “two religions shall not coexist in Arabia,” Caliph Omar later expelled all Jews from the peninsula.
For 1,400 years, Muslims have been taught that Jews were Muhammad’s enemies and that he acted in self-defense. Yet the historical record shows a pattern of deliberate provocation, dispossession, and extermination, fueled by religious absolutism, political expediency, and material gain. While diplomats today may exculpate Islamic antisemitism as simply the outgrowth of a land dispute in historic Palestine, the reality is that hatred and rejection of Jews is deeply embedded in the theology that groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and the Islamic State teach.
