The Unforgeable Sinai !

It seemed to be just like any other day, what could be unique about it?

I got home from work at 6 PM, just like any other day ,microwaved my lunch which unsurprisingly was made of rice, veggies and meat(just like any other day),sat on my PC to check the latest news on facebook when I was hit! (not just like any other day :) )

I got that happy msg that my dear TPSS, I am a member of ,is organizing a trip to Sinai to visit Mount Moses and Monastery Saint Catherine,WOW!

In an instant,I RSVPed to the event as "attending",checked my calendar to make sure I can take the two days off work and voila,I am waiting for THE day!

Date

On board the bus,why can't Egyptian college students get on trips whithout making so much noise? Can't we just enjoy peace,serenity?

The good part is a friend of mine held the mike in one hand and the Holy bible in the other and recited us the story of Moses and his tribe,the well-known story of Exodus from Egypt.The weired part is that it turned to be a very confusing and complex story with so many controversies on where they went,the exact point they crossed the sea at.who is,for certain,the Pharoh of Moses is.I really don’t care much about these details.It’s the essence of the story that matters most to me.

The road was so long ,like 9 hours from Tanta.I was so eager to get off the bus and start climbing the mountain.

At 01:30 AM,we got to the hotel,kind of checked-in and ahead to the mountain,we were accompanied by Nasr,a local Bedouin who is supposed to be our guide.Nasr somked hashish like hell.he talked like when you turn down the "tempo" button on your hand-held speaking dictionary.Eshta! anyway,we made our way up in a large group,I made “tasbeeh” some of the way up,we collectively sang some sufi poems and nasheeds,sometimes I whispered to God and shed tears,It was a hell out of a spiritual experience.Russians and Koreans were all around riding Camels,these people look very healthy,aaaaaah!

Why are we,human kind,very worried about the ends and destination? Everynow and then,you hear somebody.."fadel kteer?" why not enjoy the road,listen to the nature without being so much keen on "arriving".The true treasure is all around not on top,I always believed.

Around 5 PM,very near the top,we held fajr prayer,the same friend of mine with the bible was our imam,it was a magical experience to pray at an altitude of nearly 1200 meter above the ground,wow.

His voice reached our ears very clearly and very smoothly,in the second rak'aa he recited..”I swear by the fig and the olive"….very touching!

At about 5:45 AM,we were there right on top of mount Sinai,where Moses talked to Allah,the Almighty.Yes,I was standing right there.There were a small chapel and a tiny mosque,groups of tourists were praying in different languages,the sunrise was magnificent.

I listened to a group of tourists praying with a guitar guy playing.they were repeating>…Shema Yisrael .Instantly,one of our team whisprerd in my ear.."isreali jewish,they are!" what non-sense,and how did you come to know?

After they were done with their prayer,I asked loud if anyone of them spoke English,one of them answered that he spoke little English.I wondered what prayer they were reciting.It turned out to be an extract from Exodus,old testament which meaned,Listen to us,God of isreal.they were Mexican catholics doing like a lesser pilgrimage to holy sites.They even invited me over to share another prayer.I just sat there,got nothing of their Spanish except some few words,Christo,Gloria,Papa but I enjoyed it so much.I took a photo with Aligatro the guitar guy,they asked if it was our first time here,ironically enough it was.

I always respected religious pluralism and I think I will always do,man needs God in whatever form.these people came from the other side of the world to worship God,you have nothing but respect for them.

My take on the place is it is losing its raw texture,it's becoming more and more modernized,our hotel was very nearby,had a pool and a bar! Why are we very attached to materialism and modern life.can't just life be lived other ways?

And then came the moment of truth,it's time we took the way down,aaaaaaaaaaaah!

It was ways easier then the way up but hey,both are very tiring folks.we reached the plateau in like 2 and half hours.We could clearly see the monastery we were heading off to.

The Saint Catherine Monastery was so simple and ,architecturally minimalistic.I learned earlier from their website it doesn’t follow our Coptic Orthodox Church but rather Roman Orthodox Church in Greece.

We had a look at the burning bush

that's believed to have attracted Moses to its fire.The monastery alleges on its site they tried many times to plant it outside but each time it dies.

We had a chance to visit the museum there with its library being the second largest manuscript library in the world after the Vatican Library.

I asked a very nice Greek monk there some questions about the graceful icons and paintings,he was so helpful nd so welcoming,even told us some secrets about the items shown,like why Christ is always painted with his fingers posed in a certain posture,but I am not gonna share the secret with you :P

I was very impressed by the jeweled crosses and crowns they kept.The very old bibles and manuscripts got me severe nostalgia. I wondered how these monks co-existed with theses fancy stuff when they are asked to live a life of selflessness and piety.

I wish I had the chance to get that isolated and to worship Allah that peacefully.

To all of you….VISIT Sinai,you just have to

photos courtsy Ahmed El Gendy,Nehad El Gamal