It is a 2,285-meter (7,497 ft)mountain near the city ofSaint Catherine in the region known today as theSinai 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 toMount Catherine which, at 2,629 m or 8,625 ft, is the highest peak inEgypt.[4]
Jebel Musa in the 1869 Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai, shown north ofMount Catherine (Jebel Katarina) and south ofWillow Peak (Ras es-Safsafeh)
Immediately north of the mountain is the 6th-centurySaint Catherine's Monastery. The summit has amosque that is still used byMuslims, and aGreek 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 biblicalTablets of Stone.[6] At the summit also is "Moses' cave", where theHebrew prophetMoses is believed to have waited to receive theTen Commandments fromGod.[1][2][3]
The Jabal Musa is associated with the Islamic prophetMūsā ibn ʿImrān (i.e., Moses).[2] In particular, numerous references to Jabal Musa exist in theQuran,[7][8] where it is calledṬūr Saināʾ,[9]Ṭūr Sīnīn,[10] andaṭ-Ṭūr[11][12] andal-Jabal (both meaning "the Mount").[13] As for the adjacentWādṬuwā (Valley of Tuwa), it is considered as beingmuqaddas[14][15] (sacred),[16][17] and a part of it is calledAl-Buqʿah Al-Mubārakah ("The blessed Place").[12]
There are two principal routes to the summit. The longer and shallower route,Siket El Bashait, takes about 2.5 hours on foot, thoughcamels 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.[18]
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