diff --git a/web/src/message_list.js b/web/src/message_list.js
index 70dc3b5e33..092cf18efb 100644
--- a/web/src/message_list.js
+++ b/web/src/message_list.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import autosize from "autosize";
 import $ from "jquery";
 
+import {all_messages_data} from "./all_messages_data";
 import * as blueslip from "./blueslip";
 import {MessageListData} from "./message_list_data";
 import {MessageListView} from "./message_list_view";
@@ -426,6 +427,20 @@ export class MessageList {
     }
 
     update_muting_and_rerender() {
+        // For the home message list, we need to re-initialize
+        // _all_items for stream muting/topic unmuting from
+        // all_messages_data, since otherwise unmuting a previously
+        // muted stream won't work.
+        //
+        // TODO: The zhome conditional is a bit awkward, but a check
+        // for whether the filter excludes muted streams wouldn't be
+        // correct, because other narrows can't pull from
+        // all_messages.
+        if (this.table_name === "zhome") {
+            this.data.clear();
+            this.data.add_messages(all_messages_data.all_messages());
+        }
+
         this.data.update_items_for_muting();
         // We need to rerender whether or not the narrow hides muted
         // topics, because we need to update recipient bars for topics
diff --git a/web/src/stream_muting.js b/web/src/stream_muting.js
index 5ec0ebcfdd..e31de7d621 100644
--- a/web/src/stream_muting.js
+++ b/web/src/stream_muting.js
@@ -1,11 +1,4 @@
-import {all_messages_data} from "./all_messages_data";
 import * as message_lists from "./message_lists";
-import * as message_scroll from "./message_scroll";
-import * as message_util from "./message_util";
-import * as message_viewport from "./message_viewport";
-import * as narrow_state from "./narrow_state";
-import * as navigate from "./navigate";
-import * as overlays from "./overlays";
 import * as settings_notifications from "./settings_notifications";
 import * as stream_edit from "./stream_edit";
 import * as stream_list from "./stream_list";
@@ -14,57 +7,14 @@ import * as unread_ui from "./unread_ui";
 export function update_is_muted(sub, value) {
     sub.is_muted = value;
 
-    setTimeout(() => {
-        let msg_offset;
-        let saved_ypos;
-        // Save our current scroll position
-        if (overlays.is_active() || overlays.is_modal_open()) {
-            saved_ypos = message_viewport.scrollTop();
-        } else if (
-            narrow_state.is_message_feed_visible() &&
-            message_lists.current === message_lists.home &&
-            message_lists.current.selected_row().offset() !== null
-        ) {
-            msg_offset = message_lists.current.selected_row().offset().top;
-        }
+    // TODO: In theory, other message lists whose behavior depends on
+    // stream muting might need to be live-updated as well, but the
+    // current _all_items design doesn't have a way to support that.
+    message_lists.home.update_muting_and_rerender();
 
-        message_lists.home.clear({clear_selected_id: false});
-
-        // Recreate the message_lists.home with the newly filtered all_messages_data
-        message_util.add_old_messages(all_messages_data.all_messages(), message_lists.home);
-
-        // Ensure we're still at the same scroll position
-        if (overlays.is_overlay_or_modal_open()) {
-            message_viewport.scrollTop(saved_ypos);
-        } else if (
-            narrow_state.is_message_feed_visible() &&
-            message_lists.current === message_lists.home
-        ) {
-            // We pass use_closest to handle the case where the
-            // currently selected message is being hidden from the
-            // home view
-            message_lists.home.select_id(message_lists.home.selected_id(), {
-                use_closest: true,
-                empty_ok: true,
-                mark_read: false,
-            });
-            if (message_lists.current.selected_id() !== -1) {
-                message_lists.current.view.set_message_offset(msg_offset);
-            }
-        }
-
-        // In case we added messages to what's visible in the home
-        // view, we need to re-scroll to make sure the pointer is
-        // still visible. We don't want the auto-scroll handler to
-        // move our pointer to the old scroll location before we have
-        // a chance to update it.
-        navigate.plan_scroll_to_selected();
-        message_scroll.suppress_selection_update_on_next_scroll();
-
-        // Since muted streams aren't counted in visible unread
-        // counts, we need to update the rendering of them.
-        unread_ui.update_unread_counts();
-    }, 0);
+    // Since muted streams aren't counted in visible unread
+    // counts, we need to update the rendering of them.
+    unread_ui.update_unread_counts();
 
     settings_notifications.update_muted_stream_state(sub);
     stream_edit.update_muting_rendering(sub);