175. Jel‘ād | جلعاد

al-Balqā’ Governorate

Jāmi‘

JADIS no. 2216016

MEGA no. 50864. 50865. 50870. 50897

Coordinates: 32°07'05.5"N 35°46'36.0"E

32.118194, 35.776667

Plan: broad rectangular with entrance in the middle of the N wall, approximately facing the miḥrāb in S wall. The rounded niche is protruding at the exterior of the S wall. The mosque evidently occupies the space of the paved atrium of a Christian basilica. This assumption is supported by many architectural elements decorated with cross medallions. The plan of the mosque shifts in orientation about 30o to the SE to conform with the Islamic qibla regulation.

Measurements: 63.51 m²

Exterior: 12.55 x 8.80-9.20 m width with miḥrāb 9.70m

Interior: 10.95 m x 5,80 m

Building Materials: yellowish-brown to bright orange limestone blocks of local origin, in part reused from older buildings. At the NE end of the riwāq is a mono-lithic ablution basin (broken in recent times) beside a well which has perhaps a drainage connection to a larger cistern under the NE corner of the paved atrium, now under the NE corner of the mosque. Such an assumption is supported by a discharge strainer under the NE corner on the exterior floor level (restored in recent times). In the immediate surroundings various limestone blocks with the representation of cross rosettes or Maltesian crosses can be found reused in new retaining walls (figs. 173.9. 11-13). At the exterior NW corner lies a decorated door frame in two fragments (fig. 173.10; measurements 2.00 m x 0.75 m x 0.30m). It is framed at the sides and along the upper border with thin profiles. In the center below the profile is the mutilated relief representation of a cross surrounded by a wreath.

Construction details: Two sided masonry out of well-dressed solid cubic blocks laid in horizontal courses, preserved up to nine rows, originally without mortar in the joints. The interior of the two-faced walls is filled with rubble, flakes and mortar. The interior walls had been plastered with a whitish mortar which has almost completely fallen. The floor was covered by a stone pavement with rectangular slabs (fig.173.8) laid in an oblique arrangement to the long walls, probably the remnants of the atrium of a church. The prayer hall is covered over its full length by a barrel vault in E-W direction. This vault is still well preserved in the E section. Over the miḥrāb spans a shorter perpendicular groin vault over the niche (fig. 173.7). The imposts of the segmental vaults are preserved on both sides of the recessed miḥrāb niche. Preservation: ruin, not in use for Muslim prayer, recently restored by the owner of the land.

Inscription(s): On the plaster in the miḥrāb niche one line of Kufic inscription (1), which is not legible over full length due to the gaps caused by the fallen plaster:

Transcription of the legible part:

The text fragments can be restituted without problems as a quotation from Q. 33 al-aḥzāb, 56: Restituted text:

Translation: “Surely Allāh, and His angels bless the Prophet; O you who believe! call for (divine) blessings on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation” (Shakir).” A second graffito (2), in three lines, also in Cufic Arabic, is found on one of the building blocks in the second row of the W façade, not legible.

Date(s): Umayyad or Ayyubid periods (MEGA). The groin vaults above the miḥrāb and the door combined with lateral barrel vaults have analogies at Abū Makhtūb (no. 5), al-Kerak (no. 190), Saḥm al-Kfarāt (no. 316) Ṣārfaḥ (no. 339) and Salṭ (no. 326) which corroborate the proposed later date. The assumption of a Christian predecessor building is strongly supported by the presence of several cross symbols chiseled on limestone architectural elements (fig. 179.9-13), partly reused in the surrounding retaining walls of the mosque. To the opinion of the GJU students and the consulted experts, the later date to the Ayyubid period seems to be preferable. The paleographic evidence of the Kufic inscriptions found in the miḥrāb and the exterior W wall without interpunctuation could point to an Umayyad as well as to a later ‘Ayyubid date.

Traveler Reports: none known.

Bibliography: DeVaux 1938, 416-417 no. 43; Ajlouni 1992, 32-33; Piccirillo 1993, 339; Darakdeh 1998, 45-46 with plan in appendix; for historical trees in the wider area see Nueimat -Alkilani 2002, 42-43.