Mount Sinai

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 and Christianity

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

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"). File:St Catherines From Sinai.JPG|Saint Catherine's Monastery, looking down from Mount Sinai File:MasjidMountSinai.jpg|The mosque at the summit File:Greek Orthodox Chapel at top of Mt Sinai.jpg|The chapel at the summit

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.

File:Mount Moses.jpg|NNE view from the summit File:جبل موسى.jpg|NW view from the summit File:NearSinaiTop.JPG|The last few meters of the climb up the mountain File:MtSinaiJune2006.JPG|Sunrise

References

References

1. (January 1954). "The Desert Sojourn of the Hebrews and the Sinai-Horeb Tradition". [[Brill Publishers]] on behalf of the [[International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament]].
2. (April 2014). "Moses and the Holy Valley Ṭuwan: On the Biblical and Midrashic Background of a Qur’ānic scene". [[University of Chicago Press]].
3. (Winter 2003). "קול as Hypostasis in the Hebrew Bible". [[Society of Biblical Literature]].
4. "Sinai Geology". AllSinai.info.
5. [http://www.virtualacademia.com/pdf/rad586_598.pdf Hanaa M. Salem and A. A. ElFouly, "Minerals Reconnaissance at Saint Catherine Area, Southern Central Sinai, Egypt and their Environmental Impacts on Human Health"] {{Webarchive. link. (2012-06-01 . ICEHM2000, Cairo University, Egypt, September 2000, pp. 586–98)
6. "Mount Sinai, Egypt". Places of Peace and Power.
7. (1832). "Qanoon-e-Islam: Or, The Customs of the Moosulmans of India; Comprising a Full and Exact Account of Their Various Rites and Ceremonies, from the Moment of Birth Till the Hour of Death". Parbury, Allen, and Company.
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16. Ibn Kathir. (2013-01-01). ["Stories of the Prophets: [قصص الأنبياء انكليزي". Dar Al Kotob Al Ilmiyah ({{langx.
17. Elhadary, Osman. (2016-02-08). "Moses in the Holy Scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam: A Call for Peace". BookBaby.
18. "Mount Sinai". AllSinai.info.