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Ras ash-Shaykh Humayd marks the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba. Opposite are the island of Tiran and Egypt. On the beach lies the hull of an American PBY-5A Catalina seaplane, which landed here without authorisation on 22 March 1960 and was riddled with bullets the next day; no one was hurt. The wreck is fenced off. The cape was the planned western end of NEOM's The Line project, suspended since September 2025.
For Bob Cornuke, Larry Williams and others, the Children of Israel are supposed to have crossed the sea by the Strait of Tiran and arrived here. The Quran says: « فَأَوْحَيْنَآ إِلَىٰ مُوسَىٰٓ أَنِ ٱضْرِب بِّعَصَاكَ ٱلْبَحْرَ ۖ فَٱنفَلَقَ » (“Then We inspired to Moses, ‘Strike with your staff the sea,’ and it parted”, 26:63, translation of the meaning, Sahih International). “Al-bahr”, the sea, with no name. Yaqut, for his part, places the drowning of Pharaoh at al-Qulzum, near Suez.
Seabed charts show that the Enterprise passage, in the strait, goes down to about 210 m, with very steep slopes.
What is certain and what is not
- Certain: a deserted cape, beaches, the wreck of a seaplane from 1960.
- Modern theory: the crossing of the sea here. The Quran does not name the sea. The Arab geographers place the drowning of Pharaoh near Suez.
- Practical: access by 4x4. NEOM zone.
Sources
1. Quran, ash-Shuʿara 26:63 (text verified, Sahih International translation).
2. Yaqut al-Hamawi, Muʿjam al-buldan, vol. 4, p. 386, entry « القلزم ».
3. Wikipedia (en), “Ras Alsheikh Hamid”.
4. Franz, “Mount Sinai is NOT Jebel al-Lawz” (NOAA chart 62222): https://biblearchaeology.org/research/exodus-from-egypt/2264