How sound is the story of Maria the Copt's conversion to Islam, which states that she embraced Islam immediately upon her arrival in Medina, saying: "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that you, O Muhammad, are the Messenger of Allah"? And when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, asked her about the reason for her conversion, she said: "O Messenger of Allah, men from your companions were sent with me from Egypt to Medina, and by Allah, they were more trustworthy with my honor than my own brothers. So I said: He who raised these men upon such trustworthiness cannot be an ordinary human being; rather, he is truly and truthfully a Messenger from Allah, and I believed"?

More than one biographer and historian has mentioned that Maria al-Qibtiyya and her sister embraced Islam at the hands of Hatib ibn Abi Balta'a before their arrival in Medina. Ibn al-Jawzi, in "Al-Muntazam," stated that Al-Muqawqis sent Maria and her sister Sirin, along with Mabor the eunuch, to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. Hatib presented Islam to them, and they accepted it. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, lodged Maria in Al-Aliyah, where he would visit her, and he imposed the veil upon her there. Maria conceived his son Ibrahim and gave birth to him there. Maria passed away during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab in the year sixteen. Umar prayed over her and she was buried in Al-Baqi'.