245. Mashḥād, al-, Tell | المشهد

Today commonly known as ‘Alī Mashḥād (‘Ajlūn Governorate)

Maqām Shēkh ‘Alī

JADIS no. 2119026

MEGA no. 5203; 25149

Coordinates: 32°19'44.5"N 35°40'58.0"E

32.329028, 35.682778

Plan: square (MacKenzie 2002); according to Augustinovic - Bagatti (1951-52) only a stone circle with along rectangular tomb, oriented E to W, lined by partly well-dressed stones.

Measurements: ca. 64 m²

Exterior: 8 x 8 m (MacKenzie 2002)

Interior: unknown.

Building Materials: local brownish limestone.

Construction details: unknown.

Preservation: In case the mausoleum has still been visible to McKenzie in 2002, it has been destroyed since then. The outlines of the tomb, however, are still traceable under an impressive group of highly grown oak trees.

Inscription: Arabic inscription (53 x 95 cm); 

Translation: “ [In the name of Allā]h, the Merciful, the Compassionate.[Everyone on it will perish.] And it will remain the face of your Lord, full of majesty and honor (Q. 55 ar-Raḥmān, 26-27). Renewed this […] the happy one, seeking the pleasure of Allāh, the Forgiving, the Glorious, the one in need of Allāh, hoping for His pardon and His forgiveness, the great commander, the general,‘ Izz al-Dīn Aybak ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Malikī al-Manṣūrī, al-Ṣāliḥī, known as al-Mukhtaṣṣ, the governor of ‘Ajlūn, the victorious, may Allāh forgive him. In the month of Rabī‘ the First, year seven and eighty and six hundred.” (= April 1288 AD) (Translation RS).

Date: 1288 AD

Traveler Reports: “In cima alla collina un gruppo di lecci è disposto in circolo che racchiude poi un’ altro circolo sacro di pietre ed in mezzo a questo si trova la tomba inquadrata alle peggio con pietre rozze. Fra gli ex-vote sulla tomba alcuni pezzi di panno messi come bandorine. Fuori dell circulo sacro, due rettangoli pietri (i muri alti c. 1 m). Sul declivio SE una vecchia cisterna ed una grande grotta coll’ingrezzo ed i fianchi accomodati e muratura (Augustinović - Bagatti 1951-1952); “Eichenbäume säumen seinen Nordrand und überschatten das Grab eines wilî” (Mittmann 1970).

Bibliography: Schumacher 1898, 19; Berchem 1903, 61-62 fig. 45 (= 1978, 339-340 fig. 45); Augustinović – Bagatti 1951/52, 305; RCEA XIII, n° 4900 (= TEI no. 3601); Mittmann 1970, 64 no. 151; Mac Kenzie 2002, 618.