Letter K

211. Kufr Esad / Kufr Esayd / Kufr ‘Asad | كُفُر أسد

Irbid Governorate

Maqām Wēli Shēkh Muḥammed al-‘Uthāmi

JADIS no. 2122075

MEGA no. 5355, the maqām 25711.

Coordinates: 32°35'47.0"N 35°42'47.0"E

32.596389, 35.713056

 

 

Plan: The fenced compound consists of the new mausoleum of the Shēkh, square in plan. It has a small door and a window to its right in the E wall, each one further window in the W and S walls. The building houses the venerated tomb (fig. 211.10) oriented from E to W. To the S of the mausoleum is the mosque on a slightly lower level of the terrain. It shifts considerable from the alignment of the tomb to the E. It is also square in plan but of larger dimensions; one recessed entrance door in the N and a rectangular window at the E wall surmounting a protruding podium. In the S wall miḥrāb incorporated into the wall.

Measurements: 13,69 m2 (mausoleum); 49 m2 (mosque)

Exterior: 3.70 x 3.70 m (mausoleum); 7.0 x 7.0 m (mosque)

Interior: unknown.

Building Materials: On the site of the maqām there are three fragmented marble chancel screen posts of a Byzantine church. They served in secondary use as corner encrownments (acroteria) at the NE and SE edges of the roof top of the mosque. The tomb building has been newly constructed in skeleton concrete technique and the conical dome is casted in cement. The mosque consists of older stone material but it is widely plastered and whitewashed. The dome is painted with turquoise color.

Construction details: mosque with dome with pendantifs resting on arches at all four interior walls.

Preservation: both buildings intact, occasionally used for Muslim prayers by the local Sufi community. Many “hands of Fatima” in green oil colour at the exterior walls of the mosque, on the fence and some tomb stones in the environments of the maqām.

Inscription(s): none known.

Date(s): Ottoman.

Traveler Reports: “… in which they live on the revenues afforded by the shrine of a Mohammedan saint called Sheikh Mohammed al-‘Udamy. This tomb they carefully attend, and its whitewashed cupola may be seen from many distant parts of northern ‘Adjlûn.” (Schumacher 1890] reprint 2010]).

Bibliography: Schumacher 1890 (reprint 2010) 120; Steuernagel 1927, A. 462.

 
Fig. 211.2 Sketch ground plan of compound with mosque (A) and mau- soleum (B) in present condition (Nj 2019).
Fig. 211.1 Exterior view of the mosque from SW (TMW-K 2019).
Fig. 211.3 Exterior view of mosque from NW (TMW-K 2019).
Fig. 211.4 Exterior view of mosque from N (TMW-K 2019).
Fig. 211.5 Exterior view of mosque from S (TMW-K 2019).
 
Figs. 211.6-8 Three marble Byzantine chancel screen posts used as acroteria an the mosque’s roof (TMW-K 2019).
 
Fig. 211.9 Modern mausoleum, exterior view from SE (TMW-K 2019).
Fig. 211.10 Tomb of the Shēkh seen from E (TMW-K 2019).

Figures

[Fig. 211.2 ]
Sketch ground plan of compound with mosque (A) and mau- soleum (B) in present condition (Nj 2019).

[Fig. 211.1 ]
Exterior view of the mosque from SW (TMW-K 2019).

[Fig. 211.3 ]
Exterior view of mosque from NW (TMW-K 2019).

[Fig. 211.4 ]
Exterior view of mosque from N (TMW-K 2019).

[Figs. 211.6-8 ]
Three marble Byzantine chancel screen posts used as acroteria an the mosque’s roof (TMW-K 2019).

[Fig. 211.9 ]
Modern mausoleum, exterior view from SE (TMW-K 2019).

[Fig. 211.10]
Tomb of the Shēkh seen from E (TMW-K 2019).