If the mountain will not go to Mahomet, let Mahomet go to the mountain.

When a needed person, resource, or opportunity will not come closer or cooperate, the sensible response is to change one’s own plan. The saying favors practical adjustment and initiative over waiting for circumstances to comply.

It can also frame initiative as a way out of stalemate: approach the obstacle, opportunity, or reluctant party yourself. Its force is to accept a fixed condition and choose an available action rather than insist on an impossible reversal.

Use it when someone can resolve a difficulty by travelling, adapting, or approaching another party rather than expecting them to come first; it may encourage or lightly admonish. The traditional wording uses “Mahomet,” an older English form of Muhammad, which may sound dated or insensitive in some settings.