Case file · Apparition / miracle
The moving of the Mokattam
Coptic tradition says that around 979 the Fatimid caliph al-Mu'izz challenged Pope Abraham to move a mountain, and that the Mokattam hill rose after three days of prayer led by the cobbler Simon.
979 CE · 30.03, 31.28 · status: legend
The account
The Cave Church of Saint Simon, carved into the Mokattam above the Zabbaleen quarter, now honours him and is one of the largest churches in the Middle East.
The sceptical view
The story is told in the 'History of the Patriarchs' in a form written down later. Historians see it as a community memory of survival under Fatimid rule.