239. Malkā | ملكا

Irbid Governorate

Masjid Shēkh ‘Abd al-Qādhir al-Jīlānī, masjid Malkā alkabīr

JADIS no. 2223016

MEGA no. 11600

Coordinates: 32°40'28.7"N 35°45'09.1"E

32.674644, 35.752514

Plan: broad rectangular, with three entrances in the N in central axial alignment with the interior bays; miḥrāb in the center of the S wall shifted about 17o to N from the canonic qibla direction and flanked by two windows in the centers of the lateral bays (the W one has been recently enlarged as a door to the new S extension of the mosque). It could not be stated whether the miḥrāb projects at the exterior S wall because this has been covered by the new S extension of the mosque in the 1980s. The interior is divided by two reused free standing Byzantine columns with Ionic capitals in two naves running parallel to the S qibla wall (figs. 238.7-9. 12). Accordingly, the ceiling consist of cross vaulted compartments which subdivide the two naves in each three almost square bays (all together nine bays).

Measurements: 196.88 m²

Exterior: unknown.

Interior: 11.65 x 16.9 m.

Building Materials: well-dressed light orange, white-rosé limestone with the occasional intrusion of local black basalt blocks. The interior cross vault imposts rest on Byzantine basalt column drums crowned by flat Ionic capitals with scrolled helices (fig. 238.13) which were removed from the atrium of the five aisled basilica at the lower W town of Umm Qes / Gadara of the Decapolis (cf. fig. 238.14). Still today many olive trees are owned and harvested at the basilica’s site “al-knās” (= “the churches”) by people from Malkā. The wooden door and window frames and panels (figs. 238.4-5) as well as the iron window grills are original from the 1905 rebuilding of the mosque.

Construction details: The isodomic masonry of the exterior walls, obviously widely rebuilt in 1905, consists of up to 24 horizontal courses of well-dressed limestone blocks with the occasional insertion of some black basalt stones (visible in the W exterior elevation). The roof top has been covered with a concrete slab during the 1980s. The joints of the masonry blocks are filled with mortar which has more recently in sectors reinforced with concrete. The original staircase to the roof top at the NE exterior corner rests on an arch which can be seen at the door of the ablution room at the interior NE, accessible from the N entrance hall which has been built in the 1980s in front of the original N façade. In the open courtyard of the old mosque, the staircase makes an angle of 90o to the W. The interior is entirely plastered and whitewashed. The pedestal zone is painted light green. The spolia column drums and capitals are painted with turquoise green glossy color. Several Qur‘ānic verses have been written recently in black color above the springers of the cross vaults. The miḥrāb is emphasized by a brown stone imitation cladding. The minbar immediately to the right has a stone staircase with a wooden roofed superstructure. The door blades and the frames have been preserved in their original condition of the 1905 building.

Preservation: The old mosque, which has been extended to the S by a new building in the 1980s, is used today for women prayer and Quran teaching. In the S wall the right window was widened and transformed to a door. Apart from that, the old mosque is very well preserved and maintained in good condition.

Inscription(s): In the tympanum of the blind pointed arch of the central entrance door is a square table with an Arabic building inscription (1) in two columns over 10 lines. The letters have been chiseled in flat relief and are painted in black, also the thick frame of the slab (photos by TMW-K 2019, Arabic transcription and translation by NAt):

Translation: “We gathered in worship of our only God, he is generous and high, secondly to mention our prophet al-Mūsṭafa to whom my camels are saddled for (in order to visit him). We made our efforts to construct this mosque for God’s honor for whom our hearts are devoted, for the purpose of worshiping Allāh and mentioning his prophet in deeds and words so as to be enlighted like a lamp. All the persons of Bānī Rūmī intended to invest the seven ears (of the corn harvest). Oh Allāh we ask you to support (us) and to please our king ‘Abdul Ḥamīd. May Allāh give him victory always and his family(wished) by those who construct mosques of Allāh as it mentioned in the Qur‘ān. Our poetry is embellished by praising our Prophet, and our history will be (recorded) in heaven, (in) the year 1325 hijri and year 1323 Rūmī.”

A second Arabic inscription (2) on a rectangular stone slab has been fit above the miḥrāb. On white painted ground and with black painted relief letters this inscription runs over five lines (photos by TMW-K 2019, transcription and translation by NAt):

Translation: “‘Every time Zechariah entered upon her in the prayer chamber (miḥrāb)’ (= Q. 3 al-‘Alī ‘Imrān, 37). This honorable mosque was constructed by the Gentlemen ‘Alī, the son of Muḥammad Walīd, and Ḥasan, the son of Maḥmūd, both grandsons of al-Qōṣi from Ṣafad, may Allāh give them salary and reward, (in the) year 1325 (Hijri)”.

Date: There is no doubt that the two grandsons of al- Qōṣi from Ṣafad rebuilt the mosque in 1325 H (=1905 AD) at the ruin site reported by G. Schumacher in the late 19th century as “el-dschawāma” in the S of the old village. The details of Schumacher’s report, especially the measurements, are somewhat enigmatic and can be related to the old mosque of 1905 only by further investigations. The plan, size and the proportions compare, however, with Ayyubid-Mamluk mosques in the area to such extend that the preceding building must have originated at the Islamic middle ages (cf. the mosque at Rēmūn, no. 306). Malkā appears together with Ḥubrāṣ in the Ottoman tax registers published by Hütteroth – Abdulfattah 1977 as one of the most prosperous agricultural villages in NW Jordan during the early 17^th century AD (cf. also Walker 2006, 67-111). Therefore, the rebuilt mosque of 1905 reflects with a very high probability a building of the 13^th / 14^th century AD. In the 1980s, the old mosque received at the northern front a narrow entrance hall constructed in concrete skeleton technique and a courtyard lined by a concrete wall. In the earlier 2000s, due to the growth of the inhabitants of the village, an additional new mosque with an colonnaded W entrance porch has been added adjacent to the S. The Rūmī era mentioned at the end of inscription 1 was a local calendar of the late Ottoman period.

Traveler Reports: “Great piles of well-hewn building stones occupy a slight elevation, and in the southern part of the plateau two buildings of a more modern appearance are still partly standing. The two buildings are square in plan with a courtyard to the north. Spanned across in the width of 18 feet 9 inches is a vaulted ceiling, and the lateral parts are, in their upper part, 3 feet 4 inches thick, and the base being upwards of 8 feet. The material is hewn limestone, the blocks being laid in mortar horizontally and diagonally; in places also old basalt stones and ornaments have been built up into the walls. The construction of the vaulting is similar to that seen in the Haurânian mosques. I have no doubt that they are ruins of Mohammedan shrines, as their present name indicates, for they are called El-Jawâm’a or, ‘The Mosques’.” (Schumacher 1890, repr. 2010); “Im Süden befinden sich zwei Ruinen etwas modernerer Bauart: 5,7m weite Räume mit flach gedeckten Decken, die Seitenmauern unten 2,5 m, oben nur 1 m stark, also stark anlaufend, an der Nordseite Höfe. Wahrscheinlich handelt es sich um Ruinen von Welis oder Moscheen, da die Gewölbekonstruktion der der alten Moscheen im Hauran entspricht; die Bezeichnung der Ruinen als ‘eldschawāma’ (die Moscheen)“ dient dem nur zur Bestätigung. Als Baumaterial für die Wände dienten behauene Kalksteine, die teils horizontal, teils schräg gekantet in Mörtel gelegt sind; teilweise sind auch alte Basaltsteine und Ornamentstücke in die Mauern verbaut” (Steuernagel 1927).

Bibliography: Schumacher 1890 (reprint 2010) 81; Steuernagel 1927, A. 502-503; Mittmann 1970, 24-25; Daire 1988, 88 s.v. Malka.; Walker 2006, 67-111.