In the Quran, Muhammad repeatedly recounts the story of the Israelites accepting the Covenant with God at Mount Sinai, during the Exodus.
In these accounts, it is stated that God "raised the mountain above them", and that God "raised the mountain over them, as if it were a cloud, and they thought it would fall on them":
Surah 2:63
63 And ˹remember˺ when We took a covenant from you and raised the mountain above you ˹saying˺, "Hold firmly to that ˹Scripture˺ which We have given you and observe its teachings so perhaps you will become mindful ˹of Allah˺."
Surah 4:154
154 We raised the Mount over them ˹as a warning˺ for ˹breaking˺ their covenant and said, "Enter the gate ˹of Jerusalem˺ with humility." We also warned them, "Do not break the Sabbath," and took from them a firm covenant.
Surah 7:171
171 And ˹remember˺ when We raised the mountain over them as if it were a cloud and they thought it would fall on them. ˹We said,˺ "Hold firmly to that ˹Scripture˺ which We have given you and observe its teachings so perhaps you will become mindful ˹of Allah˺."
Surah 2:93
93 And when We took your covenant and raised the mountain above you ˹saying˺, "Hold firmly to that ˹Scripture˺ which We have given you and obey," they answered, "We hear and disobey." The love of the calf was rooted in their hearts because of their disbelief. Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ "How evil is what your ˹so-called˺ belief prompts you to do, if you ˹actually˺ believe ˹in the Torah˺!"
Notice that in the last verse above, the Israelites are recorded saying, "We hear, and disobey". This is illogical, and unrealistic. The God of the universe, in this account, is suspending a mountain over their heads, and threatening to drop it, if they do not agree to the Covenant. In such a circumstance, the vast majority of people, if even out of fear alone, would quickly say that they will obey, while trembling. If anyone were to dare to say, "We disobey", those around them, out of fear, would quickly shut them up, strike them, or even kill them. That is what would happen in reality.
Therefore, the Quran's account of the Israelites saying "We hear, and disobey", in response to God's directive to "Hold firmly to that ˹Scripture˺ which We have given you and obey", is unrealistic. And, the above account differs dramatically from the Bible's account of the same event.
In the Bible, the Covenant is proposed to the people in Exodus 19, and then it is ratified in Exodus 24. Notice the people's response each time:
Exodus 19:5-9
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.
Exodus 24:3-8
3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.
4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.
6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.
8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
The response of the people is exactly the opposite of what it was portrayed as in the Quran. The people agree to the Covenant, and tell God that they will obey it. Whether they kept it later or not is immaterial. What they said was that they would keep it, whereas the Quran has them telling God that they will not keep it.
And, there is nothing whatsoever in the Biblical account of God raising the mountain over their heads, or threatening to drop a mountain on them. In order to understand where Muhammad got this tradition, one must go outside the Bible, to the Babylonian Talmud.
The narrative of God lifting up Mount Sinai over the people's head is recounted in the Talmud:
Babylonian Talmud - Shabbat 88a
5 The Gemara cites additional homiletic interpretations on the topic of the revelation at Sinai. The Torah says, "And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lowermost part of the mount" (Exodus 19:17). Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain, and the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain above the Jews like a tub, and said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there will be your burial.
Babylonian Talmud - Avodah Zarah 2b
15 Rather, this is what they say: Did we accept the Torah and then not fulfill its mitzvot? The Gemara asks: But this itself serves as the refutation of their own claim, as one can respond: Why didn't you accept it? Rather, this is what the nations of the world say before Him: Master of the Universe, did You overturn the mountain above us like a basin, and we still did not accept the Torah, as You did for the Jewish people?
16 The Gemara provides the background for this claim: As it is written: "And they stood at the nether part of the mount" (Exodus 19:17), and Rav Dimi bar Ḥama says: The verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain, i.e., Mount Sinai, above the Jews like a basin, and He said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there, under the mountain, will be your burial. The nations of the world will claim that they too could have been coerced to accept the Torah.
In both narrations above, Rabbi Dimi Bar Hama (3rd century AD) claims that Exodus 19:17 teaches that God actually lifted the mountain over the heads of Israelites, and forced them to accept the Covenant, or die.
The passage in question says:
Exodus 19:16-20
16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.
18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
20 And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.
From the above, it seems Rabbi Dimi Bar Hama interpreted the Hebrew word takh-tee (תַּחְתִּי) in verse 17, here translated "nether part", to mean "underneath". In reality, it just describes the Israelites standing at the base of the mountain, but this kind of wordplay is very, very common in Jewish Midrash.
But notice that contextually, Rabbi Hama's interpretation makes no sense. The Israelites had already accepted the Covenant (Exodus 19:5-9). The chapter even states that this event took place on the "third day" (Exodus 19:11, 19:15-16) after the Israelites accepted the Covenant.
So, the mountain was not lifted above the heads of the Israelites, forcing them to accept the Covenant, or else be killed. This tradition in the Talmud is erroneous, yet it is incorporated into the Quran as if it happened, when it did not.
The Quran's account of the Israelites being threatened by God with Mount Sinai raised above their heads is from post-Christian Jewish tradition, which is contextually impossible, given what the Biblical account actually states. Also, Muhammad's assertion that the Israelites said "We hear, and disobey", when being threatened, adds to the absurdity of the account.