Letter R
296. Rājif, ar- | الراجف
Ma‘ān Governorate
Jāmi‘ al-‘Umari
JADIS no. 1995027
MEGA no. 8953
Coordinates: 30°11'35.0"N 35°26'41.5"E
30.193056, 35.444861
Plan: long rectangular with door in the middle of the N wall and the miḥrāb in the S wall. The interior is divided by two double transversal arches resting on bulky piers in the axis of the miḥrāb and on corresponding corbels along the E and W walls. The arches divide the interior space in three naves running parallel to the qibla. These arches carry a flat roof; two rectangular windows in the S wall to both sides of the miḥrāb; two further ones in each nave of the W wall.
Measurements: 83.7 m2
Interior: 9.00 x 9.30 m.
Exterior: 12.18-12.69 x 11.60 m.
Building Materials: white yellowish and occasionally rose sandstone with mortar. The blocks in the lower rows above the foundation zone are larger and of possibly pre-Islamic age. The roof is constructed by peeled wooden beams laid perpendicularly on the crowns of the two arches, the space between them is filled with mats of cane.
Construction details: traditional limestone construction with mortar and flat roof of wooden beams covered with cane mats and soil package; walls plastered and whitewashed, miḥrāb and inscriptions framed with turquoise color.
Preservation: intact, still used for Muslim prayer.
Inscription(s): two inscriptions in flat stone relief, one of them formerly above the miḥrāb. Today both of them are inserted into the masonry of the S exterior wall and in the small gateway to the S of the courtyard.
Translation: “There is no God but Allāh, Muḥammed is the messenger of Allāh.” (left) “Whenever Zakariā entered the miḥrāb on her” (right) (translations by NAt). On a stone in the exterior W wall a graffito is engraved: (transcription and translation by NAt)
Translation: “[.....] mosque for Friday (prayer)”.
Date(s): According to a modern sign the mosque has been built upon a ruin in 1956. The layout of the plan blueprints those of the mosques in Qaṣr ‘Azraq (no. 44), aṭ-Ṭaybah (no. 382) and the excavated masjid at Beidha (no. 56): possibly in origin Umayyad (cf. O’Kane 2005,195). The courtyard walls and an ablution room were recently erected with old stones and concrete mortar.
Traveler Reports: none known.
Bibliography: unpublished.
Fig. 296.1 Sketch ground plan of mosque (black) with partly rebuilt adjacent structures (in grey) (TMW-K 2020). 
Fig. 296.2 View of W gate to courtyard with new ḥammām (TMW-K). 
Fig. 296.3 Exterior S wall, condition in the later 1990s (AKh ). 
Fig. 296.4 Exterior NW corner with larger stone rows above the foundation(TMW-K 2020). 
Fig. 296.5 Interior of prayer hall, view from SW (TMW-K 2020). 
Fig. 296.6 Interior S wall with miḥrāb, view from NW condition in the later 1990s (AKh). 
Fig. 296.7 Interior view of prayer hall with miḥrāb, view from NE condition in 2020 (TMW-K 2020). 