223. Kufranjā | كُفرنجة

‘Ajlūn Governorate

Jāmi‘ al-Farūq or masjid al-’Umari

JADIS no. 211 8010

MEGA no. 5179

Coordinates: 32°17'55.0"N 35°42'11.5"E

32.298611, 35.703194

Plan: square, divided by pillars, wall and corner buttresses into three naves with each three cross vault covered bays. In the S wall miḥrāb embedded into the masonry. The main door was originally from the E, in 1986 another one was opened in the N which faces the miḥrāb. In the centers of the interior wall vaults are double windows. In two main restoration phases the original mosque has been enlarged with an additional two-storied prayer hall to the N and to the W. The modern mezzanine is used for the women prayers.

Measurements: 247 m², capacity for ca. 345 individuals.

Exterior: ca. 19.6-19 m (GJU survey).

Interior: 15.87 (N) m x 15.64 (S) m x 15.95 (E)-16.0 (W) m (Khateb 2020).

Building Materials: The original mosque had been constructed in the exterior walls with a low-quality conglomerate yellowish to white marl limestone which tends to crumble under the prevailing climate conditions. For this reason, the exterior masonry has be clad twice by more resistible, industrially fabricated limestone in recent times.

Construction details: The exterior elevations have been clad with two layers of limestone masonry in the renovation phases of 1986 and 2009. During these works, the original E and both new N entrances have been framed by arched doorways flanked by triple limestone columns with capitals on either sides. The interior pillars are solidly constructed by massive stones, but they have been covered - as the cross vaults - by a thick layer of whitewashed lime plaster with a continuous suckle painted with brownish ocre colour. The original miḥrāb, integrated into the S wall, was framed by two columns which have been dismantled in 1986. The original stone minbar was also removed in the same year. Both miḥrāb and minbar were replaced by a wooden construction inserted into the central niche of the S wall.

Preservation: Intact, still in use for Muslim prayer.

Inscription(s): In the mosque’s present condition, there are three modern Arabic inscriptions referring all to renovation work executed in the 20^th and early 21^st centuries. The first and oldest one is mounted above the original main entrance at the E façade dated to H 1320 (=1902 AD) (s. MMU IV, 317).

(transcription Ghawanimeh 1986a; translation NAt):

Translation: “Done in the name of Allāh, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate,by Fāwzi Bāshā,‘the mosques of Allāh shall be visited and maintained by those who believe in Allāh and the Last Day’.This is al-Farūq mosque who left a wide-open door for reviving the cults after Andras was renewed by a group who stood in the face of well fare, in the days of the Sulṭān al-Anām our King Ḥamīd al-Mazāyā who be thanked to Allāh as we have to get closer to him in al-Raḥaman, he dated and encouraged us to do to dwell in the paradise for those of us who worked hard (in the year) 1320 Hijri.”

The other two inscriptions, both of a more recent date, are mounted above the two entrances in the N facade of the extended N prayer hall. both or them refer to subsequent construction work in 1986, 2006 and 2009:

Date(s): Rebuilt in the late Ottoman period in H 1320 / 1902 AD, subsequently enlarged and restored in 1986,2006 and 2009.

Traveler Reports: None known.

Bibliography: For taxation in the Ottoman registers see Hütteroth- Abdulfattah 1977, 162 s.v. Nāhiya 'Ajlūn, Za'āma wa tīmā, Kufrānjī. For the antiquities and the mosque in particular see Steuernagel 1927, A. 407; Ghawanimeh 1986a, 33-44 figs. 25-42; Qudat 2005, no. 6. 100 plan 6; 129- 133 figs. 47- 53; Salem 2005, 72 fig. 18; 78 fig. 32; Walker 2011, 153 note 111; MMU IV, 317-318 Nr. 5 (A. M. al-Qudhah); Khateb 2020, 149-150 no. 15 figs. 140-143.