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How can one respond to someone who believes in the miracle of the نقل جبل المقطم (moving of Muqattam Mountain), taking into account the questioner's doubt about the story's authenticity and its contradiction with the Fatimids' mistreatment of Christians, as well as the Quran's mention of the movement of mountains?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The fabrication states that Caliph Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah requested Pope Abraham ibn Zur'ah to move the Muqattam Mountain. So the Pope prayed, and the Virgin Mary appeared to him and commanded him to summon Samaan the One-Eyed Cobbler. Then, the Christians, along with Samaan, went out and prayed until the mountain moved, whereupon the Fatimid Caliph converted to Christianity.

This myth is not believed by any rational person, and its signs of falsehood are clear from several angles:

Firstly: The discrepancy in dates. The fabrication claims it happened years after the deaths of Al-Mu'izz and the Pope.

Secondly: Its absence from many historical books written by Christians or European historians.

Thirdly: If it were true, there would have been ample reason to transmit it, and generations would have passed it down, which did not happen.

Fourthly: Historically, Christians suffered humiliation during the 'Ubaydi (Fatimid) Caliphate, especially during the time of Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Al-Mu'izz's grandson, which contradicts the claim of Al-Mu'izz converting to Christianity for their sake.

Fifthly: The name Muqattam Mountain was known many years before the alleged date of the incident, and it was mentioned by more than one earlier historian and scholar.

Sixthly: The Christians' fondness for false visions and dreams, which are their religion, and their renewal in this fabrication is to promote their falsehood.

Using the verse: (And you see the mountains, you think them solid, but they pass as the passing of clouds) to disprove this fabrication is incorrect, because the verse speaks about the state of mountains on the Day of Resurrection, not in this world.

The 'Ubaydi (Fatimid) state outwardly ascribed to Shiite Islam, but in reality, they were disbelievers.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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