18 October 2017

Jabal al-Lawz

In early October Phil Roberts and I went to Tabuk for the weekend to look at Jabal al-Lawz. This is a mountain located in northwest Saudi Arabia, near the Jordan border, above the Gulf of Aqaba at 2580 metres above sea level. It is Saudi Arabia’s second highest mountain after Jebal Soudah near Abha in the southwest of the Kingdom. Its name means the mountain of almonds, but I certainly did not see any almonds or virtually any other vegetation excepting a few Juniper trees. Geologically it is a light-colored, calc-alkaline granite that is intruded by rhyolite and andesite dikes, which generally trend eastward. Claims have been made by some writers such as Bob Cornuke, Ron Wyatt and Lennart Moller that this is the real biblical Mount Sinai, but these have subsequently been questioned by others. The mountain is very beautiful, but it is not possible to get to the top as a closed security gate prevents access. When we arrived, before first light, signs said not to enter past the gate. We waited until security came and asked permission to enter but were refused, so had to stay on the lower slopes.