Letter H
134. Ḥayān Rowaybed west | حيّان الرويبض الغربي
al-Mafraq Governorate
Masjid ‘Umar bin al-Khaṭṭāb / Salāḥ ad-Dīn
JADIS no. none
MEGA no. none
Coordinates: 32°14'35.0"N 36°07'17.5"E
32.243056, 36.121528
Plan: Broad rectangular with centralized door flanked by two windows on each side, in axis to it miḥrāb in S wall flanked by each one window On the left (E) side of the miḥrāb a small rectangular wall cupboard with wooden frame and lockable doors is inserted in the wall space of the E window. A former window in the wall between the corbels of the arches has been broken through in order to give access from the W recent extension into the old mosque. The interior is subdivided by triple transversal arches into two naves running parallel to the qibla wall. The miḥrāb protrudes to the exterior of the S wall but is today mantled in a cubic annex of the stone revetment.
Measurements: 127.4 m2
Exterior: 17.4 x 9.25 m
Interior:15.73 x 8.10 m.
Building Materials: originally only limestone with earth and hay mortar, in the recent construction phases concrete (also industrially fabricated blocks have been used).
Construction details: The original mosque (phase 1) was constructed of partly dressed cubic limestone with coarse mortar and insertion of smaller stones and flakes. The interior triple arches rest on each two free standing pillars with imposts profiled on the lateral faces only. The arches are resting at the short interior walls (E and W) on profiled wall brackets. At the W wall they are covered today by the reinforcement of hollow concrete blocks in phase 3. In 1946 all exterior walls of the mosque had been glad by a revetment of embossed ashlars in isodomic arrangement with a thickness of about 15 cm. The door frame including the recessed lunette with the Arabic inscription are technically connected with this construction. The former segmentally arched upper window frames received horizontal lintels at that time. It is difficult to decide to which extend the triple arches have been rebuilt during the 2. phase. The profiles of their imposts, however, suggest a date of the 1940s. Also the roof concrete slab with iron grids most probably dates to this construction phase 2. After the most recent extension of the mosque (phase 3) toward W and N, the former window of the W wall has been broken through to serve as an additional door. At that time, the entire W wall has been reinforced by an additional revetment of industrially fabricated hallow concrete blocks. The interior of the mosque is plastered and whitewashed with a bottom zone painted in ocre-yellow. The imposts of the arches and the supporting pillars are painted turquoise while the wall brackets at the E short wall appear in bright green. The miḥrāb is painted in ocre-yellow with dark brown dots, superimposed by an Quranic inscription in black with calligraphic medallions, The slender colonnettes framing the niche are turquoise.
Preservation: The old mosque is directly annexed to a modern prayer hall to the W with a new miḥrāb. According to the imām, the old mosque is only occasionally used by women for prayer.
Inscription(s): In the recessed lunette above the original door in the N wall is an Arabic inscription on five lines, chiseled in flat relief out of limestone, whitewashed. The text starts with the confession formula followed by Q. 9 at-Tawba, 18, frequently used at the entrances of mosques. (Reading, transcription and translation by NAt):
Translation: “In the Name of Allāh, most Merciful, most Compassionate: The mosques of Allāh are only to be maintained by those who believe in Allāh and the Last Day (and do good works). This mosque was established in the beginning of (month) Muḥarram of the year 1365 (hijri)” (= 1946 AD).
Date(s): Ayyubid-Amamluk (Rjoub - Housan 2014). The construction anatomy clearly testifies that the mosque was not founded in 1946 (as the inscription implies). Instead, the original mosque dates before that date and certainly traces back by its plan to Ayyubid-Mamluk or even Umayyad times compared to well dated analogies of the ground plan. While the foundations are certainly ancient, the constructional substance of the superstructure dates to the Ottoman (phase 1) and Emirate / early Hashemite periods (phase 2, dated by inscription to 1946). More recent changes have been done when the old mosque received its W and N extensions in the 2000s.
Traveler Reports: unknown.
Bibliography: Rjoub – Housan 2013, 477 no. 14.
Fig. 134.1 Sketch plan of old the mosque of phases 1 and 2 (hatched) with modern extensions of phase 3 (TMW-K, redrawn by NJ 2019). 
Fig. 134.2 Sketch ground plan indicating the three phases of con- struction, The alterations of 1946 to the old mosque (grey) are indicated in yellow, the door in the W wall with the reinforcement by hallow concrete blocks are indicated in darker grey (SAd 2019). 
Fig. 134.3 Sketch section from E-W with view of N wall. The alterati- ons of 1946 to the old mosque (grey) are indicated in yellow, the door in the W wall with the reinforcement by hallow concrete blocks are indicated in darker grey (SAd 2019). 
