Origin of "If Muhammad won't come to the mountain.."

[eltro102]

the only time i’ve heard this is as some islamophobic “joke” - saying that the world will have to bend to Islam (the mountain coming to muhammad) rather than Islam changing to bend to the world

[Lion]

@eltro102

the only time i’ve heard this is as some islamophobic “joke” - saying that the world will have to bend to Islam (the mountain coming to muhammad) rather than Islam changing to bend to the world

I’ve never heard it used in this context. It’s origin as an Islamic parable makes this even less likely.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@Bromley

The way that always made sense to me was, “If Muhammad won’t come to the mountain, then the mountain will come to Muhammad.” That is, Muhammad is so powerful/worthy of respect that even the mountains will move for him…

That’s how I always heard and interpreted it, and I always assumed it was a quotation or a paraphrase from the Koran.

[hogarth]

@Elendil_s_Heir

That’s how I always heard and interpreted it, and I always assumed it was a quotation or a paraphrase from the Koran.

Same here. A zombie taught me something today.

[drsdv]

Well I am a muslim,I have read Quran several times and there is no such thing in Quran.Actually i saw this and googled it .By the way I am Turk and i have never heard of something like this so i think that is also not true.

[Ludovic]

@Johanna

I seem to recall we had a thread about this before.

I’m trying to think…ohhhhh, maybe about 9 years ago

[sailor]

LMGTFY

if the mountain won't come to Muhammad - Wiktionary

“If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad then Muhammad must go to the mountain.”

The earliest appearance of the phrase is from Chapter 12 of the Essays of Francis Bacon, published in 1625:

Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers, for the observers of his law. The people assembled; Mahomet called the hill to come to him, again and again; and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed, but said, If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill.

It was published in John Ray’s 1670 book of English proverbs. Though widely attributed to Muhammad, the prophet of Islam who lived in Arabia in 6th century, there is no written or oral tradition that traces this phrase back to him.

This phrase does not belong to Prophet Muhammad. It actually belongs to Museylamah who claimed to be prophet after Muhammad’s death. When he claimed to be prophet, people asked him to show a miracle like Prophet Muhammad did. Then, he called the hill. Yet, the hill did not come and he said mentioned phrase.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/if-the-mountain-will-not-come-to-muhammad.html

Meaning - If one’s will does not prevail, one must submit to an alternative.

Origin
The full phrase ‘If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain’ arises from the story of Muhammad, as retold by Francis Bacon, in Essays, 1625:

Mahomet cald the Hill to come to him. And when the Hill stood still, he was neuer a whit abashed, but said; If the Hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet wil go to the hil.

Present uses of the phrase usually use the word ‘mountain’ rather than ‘hill’ and this version appeared soon after Bacon’s Essays, in a work by John Owen, 1643:

If the mountaine will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will goe to the mountaine.

The phrase in common in Spanish and other languages.

[Simplicio]

The wikitionary entry seems a bit confused. Is the story first attested by Francis Bacon, or an earlier Muslim source discussing Musaylimah? Wikipedia says Musaylimah was a false prophet who had a reputation as a magician, but doesn’t discuss the mountain story.

[bibliophage]

Wiktionary, like its sister site Wikipedia, can be edited by just about anybody. In this case it was probably edited by somebody who didn’t know what he was talking about. Musaylimah existed but there is no evidence he had anything to do with the mountain story. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I will presume that Francis Bacon invented the story. From context, it is clear Bacon thought “Mahomet” was a kind of mountebank. There is no indication that by “Mahomet” Bacon meant anybody other than the prophet Muhammad. That was then a common spelling of the name. The first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, published about a century and a half later still used that spelling, alongside “Mohammed.”

[sailor]

My take is

3- I interpret the original story by Francis Bacon in a different way.

Surely, as there are mountebanks for the natural body, so are there mountebanks for the politic body; men that undertake great cures, and perhaps have been lucky, in two or three experiments, but want the grounds of science, and therefore cannot hold out. Nay, you shall see a bold fellow many times do Mahomet’s miracle. Mahomet made the people believe that he would call an hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers, for the observers of his law. The people assembled; Mahomet called the hill to come to him, again and again; and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed, but said, If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet, will go to the hill. So these men, when they have promised great matters, and failed most shamefully, yet (if they have the perfection of boldness) they will but slight it over, and make a turn, and no more ado.

He talks about charlatan politicians who promise things they cannot deliver and later pretend that what they did do is equivalent. Mahomet says he will call the mountain and the mountain will come, then when the mountain does not come he says he will go to the mountain and he pretends it is the same thing. The crux of it is that what he promised and what he did are totally different and yet he pretends they are equivalent. (It seems the lying politician is not a new thing under the sun.)

But today the phrase is used with a different meaning.

2- The saying “If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, then Muhammed must go to the mountain” is today used to mean someone being practical. If the plumber calls and says he can’t come because his car broke down, instead of just waiting for him to repair his car you go pick him up and get the work done.

1- As evidenced by this thread, a large segment of the population have totally misunderstood and misinterpreted the saying.