Mount Sinai, also known as Jabal Musa (), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is one of several locations claimed to be the biblical Mount Sinai, the place where, according to the sacred scriptures of the three major Abrahamic religions (Torah, Bible, and Quran), the Hebrew prophet Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.

It is a mountain near the city of Saint Catherine in the region known today as the Sinai Peninsula. It is surrounded on all sides by higher peaks in the mountain range of which it is a part. For example, it lies next to Mount Catherine which, at , is the highest peak in Egypt.

Geology

thumb|left|Jebel Musa in the 1869 Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai, shown north of [[Mount Catherine (Jebel Katarina) and south of Willow Peak (Ras es-Safsafeh)]]

Mount Sinai's rocks were formed during the late stage of the evolution of the Arabian-Nubian Shield. Mount Sinai displays a ring complex that consists of alkaline granites intruded into diverse rock types, including volcanics. The granites range in composition from syenogranite to alkali feldspar granite. The volcanic rocks are alkaline to peralkaline, and they are represented by subaerial flows and eruptions and subvolcanic porphyry.

Religious significance

Judaism and Christianity

Immediately north of the mountain is the 6th-century Saint Catherine's Monastery. The summit has a mosque that is still used by Muslims, and a Greek Orthodox chapel, constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th-century church, that is not open to the public. The chapel encloses the rock which is considered to be the source for the biblical Tablets of Stone. At the summit also is "Moses' cave", where the Hebrew prophet Moses is believed to have waited to receive the Ten Commandments from God. where it is called Ṭūr Saināʾ, Ṭūr Sīnīn, and aṭ-Ṭūr and al-Jabal (both meaning "the Mount"). As for the adjacent Wād Ṭuwā (Valley of Tuwa), it is considered as being muqaddas (sacred), and a part of it is called Al-Buqʿah Al-Mubārakah ("The blessed Place"). It is mandatory to hike with a guide. A guide can be hired at the start of the trails before the monastery. Many tour companies offer tours ascending after midnight in the dark, in order to reach the summit for sunrise. Cafe stalls along the trail sell warm drinks and snacks.

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File:Mount Moses.jpg|North-northeast view from the summit

File:جبل موسى.jpg|Northwest view from the summit

File:NearSinaiTop.JPG|The last few meters of the climb up the mountain

File:MtSinaiJune2006.JPG|Sunrise

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See also

  • Hashem El Tarif
  • Sacred mountains
  • Jebel Musa, Morocco, a similarly named mountain in Morocco

References

  • Caucasian Albanian Alphabet Discovered and Deciphered, Azerbaijan International, Vol. 11:3 (Autumn 2003). Six articles.
  • View OF Mount Sinai (as opposed to the view FROM Mount Sinai)
  • Information about the town of St. Katherine and the Sinai mountains
  • A Report on Mount Sinai
  • Old maps of Mount Sinai. Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, The National Library of Israel.