Mohammed and the Jews of Arabia in the 7th century: the emergence of the conflict

Abstract

The historical research that resulted in this article had as objectives: to observe what relationship (geographically and socially) Jews and Arabs had at the time of Muhammad’s birth and to highlight the new relationship built during Muhammad’s preaching, taking into account that Muhammad was well acquainted with the religion of the Jews of the Hedjaz, who were not indifferent to the spread of the Muslim faith. The Judaism, Christianity and pre-islamic monotheism (Hanifism) of Arabia were also a source for Muhammad (we restrict the work to monotheistic religions) and, on the other hand, factors for the political-religious demarcation and conflict between Arab Jews and Arab Muslims, an issue that has been little debated in understanding the origins of Islam.