Jebel Haroon (Mount Aaron), near Petra, is thought to be Mount Hor, the place where Aaron died. God denied both Moses and his brother Aaron entry into the Promised Land because they had doubted him. Moses was told (Numbers 20:26) "Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up Mount Hor. There, strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son, and Aaron will be gathered to his people: he is to die there."

Jebel Haroon has long been considered a holy place—the Nabateans constructed a god block there with several inscriptions on it; the Muslims built a shrine there, and the Byzantines built a monastery there.