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 adjacent to Mount Catherine which, at 2,629 m or 8,625 ft, is the highest peak in Egypt.
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Geology
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
Mount Sinai has immense significance in Judaism as the place where the Ten Commandments on the Tablets of Stone, as well as the rest of the Torah, the Jewish scripture, was given by God to Moses and the Jewish people.
The festival of Shavuot in Judaism marks the importance of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. There is a special Torah portion for Shavuot in which the giving of the Torah and the Ten Commandments are read. Synagogues are also adorned with flowers and decorations to match the Jewish tradition in which Mount Sinai was adorned with flowers.
In Rabbinic Judaism, which is the primary form of Judaism nowadays and is practiced by Orthodox Jews, Moses received not just the Written Torah which is the Torah scroll but also the Oral Torah which encompasses the Mishnah and the Gemara which make up the Talmud.
However, in Judaism there are varying views and opinions for the exact location of Mount Sinai and the traditional site and area in the Sinai Peninsula may not be the mountain described in Jewish tradition where the Torah was given, see Mount Sinai (Bible).
Christianity
Immediately north of the mountain is the 6th-century Saint Catherine's Monastery. The summit has 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
The mountain 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").
Ascent and summit
There are two principal routes to the summit. The longer and shallower route, Siket El Bashait, takes about 2.5 hours on foot, though camels can be used. The steeper, more direct route (Siket Sayidna Musa) is up the 3,750 "steps of penitence" in the ravine behind the monastery. 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. The mountain can also be hiked in the afternoon for sunset, when it is quieter. A small camp below the summit offers mattresses and blankets for rent, allowing visitors to sleep on the mountain overnight.