Introduction
Mountain in the Sinai Peninsula
"Jabal Musa" redirects here. For other uses, see Jebel Musa (disambiguation).
For the biblical Mount Sinai, and a discussion of its possible locations, see Mount Sinai (Bible). For other uses, see Mount Sinai (disambiguation).
Mount SinaiArabic: جَبَل مُوْسَى, romanized: Gabal MūsāMount Sinai as seen from the southwestHighest pointElevation2,285 m (7,497 ft)Prominence334 m (1,096 ft)Coordinates28°32′21.9″N 33°58′31.5″E / 28.539417°N 33.975417°E / 28.539417; 33.975417NamingNative nameطُوْر سِيْنَاء (Arabic)Ṭūr Sīnāʾ (Arabic)GeographyMount SinaiSinai, Asian part of Egypt
Mount Sinai, also known as Jabal Musa (Arabic: جَبَل مُوسَى, lit. 'Mountain of Moses'), 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 2,285-meter (7,497 ft) 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 2,629 m or 8,625 ft, is the highest peak in Egypt.
Geology
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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
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Judaism and Christianity[edit]
Main article: Mount Sinai (Bible)
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.
Islam[edit]
The Jabal Musa is associated with the Islamic prophet Mūsā ibn ʿImrān (i.e., Moses). In particular, numerous references to Jabal Musa exist in the Quran, 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").
Saint Catherine's Monastery, looking down from Mount Sinai
The mosque at the summit
The chapel at the summit
