On Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at 7:40:02 AM UTC+3, David Amicus wrote:
Do Muslims find that phrase offensive? I was watching a tv show tonight =
where it was used. I was surprised. It doesn't right to me.
The origin is a Turkish phrase without reference to Muhammad,
"Muhammad" seems to have been inserted by Francis Bacon
or someone he had contact with:=20
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/if_the_mountain_won%27t_come_to_Muhammad
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 peopl=
e assembled; Mahomet called the hill to come to him, again and again; and w= hen the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed, but said, If the hil=
l will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill.
The original phrase is
"Dag^ sana gelmezse, sen dag^a gideceksin..." ("If the mountain won't come=
to you, you must go to the mountain)."
Alternatively:
Dag^ yu"ru"mezse_abdal yu"ru"r
If the mountain does not walk (or move)
the fool (the word used is originally a Sufi
title or a member of a nomadic tribe) walks
(or moves).
One can see how "Muhammad" was inserted given
the Turkish origin. The version with Muhammad
reflects the general Western prejudice of=20
Muhammad or Muslims as stupid and superstitious.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)