SPECIAL REPORT
Syed Akbar Ali recently retraced part of the Prophet Moses' journey in the Sinai Peninsula.
 

Trek Through the Sinai Wilderness

The Sinai Peninsula in Egypt has been described as a "thousand square kilometers of nothingness". Stretching for over 450 kilometers from its Mediterranean shoreline in the north to its southern tip at Ras Muhammad on the Red Sea, the bone-dry deserts and barren mountains give Sinai a Martian landscape.

The terrain becomes more rugged and mountainous in Southern Sinai where Mount Sinai (Gebel Musa) and Mount St Catherine (Gebel Katherina) dominate the landscape.

During the last Arab-Israeli war in 1973, the Sinai Peninsula also witnessed some of the fiercest tank battles since the Second World War.

Besides being a land bridge connecting Africa and Asia, Sinai is also the land of the prophets. Moses, Abraham and numerous other prophets, common to the Islamic, Jewish and Christian heritage, spent important parts of their lives in the Sinai wilderness.

We visited Mount Sinai to retrace some of Moses' footsteps.

We were anxious to reach the 1,000 year-old Monastery of St. Catherine, the oldest Christian monastery in the world. A six-hour bus ride from Cairo took us close to the gates of the monastery, 1,219 meters up the slopes of Mount Sinai.

With its nine-meter stone walls and round towers, the monastery is indeed a medieval castle. It belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church and is run by 17 Greek Orthodox monks.

Enclosed within its walls are the site of the "burning bush" and the "well of Moses". The Quran and the Bible state that Moses was travelling with his family near Mount Sinai when he saw a burning bush in the distance. When Moses reached the "burning bush" God spoke to him.

The "well of Moses" represents an earlier event in the life of Moses where the prophet helped two young women fetch water at the village well. One of these women later became his wife.

The "burning bush" inside the monastery today is still living. It is a creeper and has profuse leaves not unlike the bougainvillea.

As for the "well of Moses", it is a mountain aquifer which is still the main source of water for the monastery and its surroundings.
 

The water is cool and sweet and can be drunk straight from the well.

However, the placing of the "burning bush" right beside the "well of Moses" does not match with the narrative in the Quran or the Bible.

The Quran says: "When he saw a fire he said to his family, `Wait here: I have seen a fire. Maybe I can bring you some of it or find some guidance at the fire'. Chapter 20:10.

Moses and his family had left their home and were travelling in the wilderness when Moses saw the fire on the mountainside. Placing the well beside the "burning bush" implies that Moses never left the village in his travels in the wilderness.

The monastery is also reputed for its large collection of historical artifacts and treasures. Included among these treasures is a parchment copy of a letter purportedly written by the Prophet Muhammad himself, granting safety and protection to the monks when the monastery came under the domain of Islam.

The Monastery of St. Catherine is actually located in a valley. We noted that the slopes rising on the right side of the valley, the side on which Moses would have stood had natural and well-preserved rock formations.

In clear contrast, the mountains of the left side of the valley appeared as if they had been blasted with dynamite. Huge boulders and rocks had been ripped off the mountain and lay over the mountainside.

Again this tallies with the Quran.

When Moses was on Mount Sinai he asked to see God. And God replied thus:

"...You cannot see Me, but look at the mountain, if it stays in place then you can see Me. Then when his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, He caused the mountain to crumble and Moses fell unconscious..." (Chapter 7:143).

Hence Mount Sinai itself is not much damaged because it is unlikely that God would have caused it to crumble when Moses was still standing on it. The monastery is served by the Jebaliya Bedouins, a tribe common to southern Sinai. The work of tending the gardens, running the hostels and the upkeep of the monastery is entrusted to these Bedouins. A mosque has been built within the monastery for these Bedouins.

The Bedouins have had a symbiotic relationship with the monks at the monastery for almost a thousand years. Although a school is available, the Bedouins have not pursued further education or other economic pursuits.

Christian groups from Greece, Germany and South Africa are frequent visitors to the monastery and Mount Sinai.

The climax of the visit is the hike. And up Mount Sinai to observe the well sunrise.

The four-hour hike up the mountain starts at 2 a.m. on a well-trodden but steep path. Halfway up, the path becomes an even steeper series of steps made of rocks and stones. It is definitely not for those who are out of shape.

Guided by fleet-footed Bedouin boys, the climbed in total darkness is indeed an experience. The desert air is so clear that atmospheric refraction makes the stars dance about in their places.

Even in the middle of the June summer, it is freezing cold. After four hours, we reached the peak just in time to observe the sunrise - a sight that made the climb worthwhile.

Small Greek Orthodox chapels as well as a mosque have been built on the mountaintop. From the peak, the vista of the mountaintops and the horizon is magnificent. It is absolutely quiet. If God wanted to talk to His messengers, this would indeed be a good place.

A student whom we met later at Cairo's Al Azhar University informed us that at the same time that Muslims are performing the Haj at Mecca, Greek Orthodox Christians congregate at Mount Sinai to perform their own pilgrimage.