Letter R

301. Raqīm, ar- | الرقيم

‘Ammān Governorate

Maqām Aṣḥāb al-Kahf, lower mosque

JADIS no.: 2414001

MEGA no.: 14475

Coordinates: 31°53'55.6"N 35°58'25.5"E

31.898778, 35.973750

 

 

Plan: broad rectangular with triple entry in the middle of the N wall; the central door facing the entry to the cave; miḥrāb in S wall, immediately to the right stone constructed with three steps and sitting platform (fig. 301.5). Two windows in N wall, one in E wall.

Measurements: unknown.

Exterior: unknown.

Interior: unknown.

Building Materials: Semi-dressed brown limestone with mortar.

Construction details: The floor of the mosque (fig. 301.6) consists of the grown bedrock which has been lowered by chiseling along the interior N wall and the W portion of the prayer hall from the minbar onward. The walls are constructed in two sided masonry with rubble mortar fill in the core.

Preservation: excavated in 1962 as a ruin, conserved and restored, normally not used for Muslim prayer.

Inscription(s): none known.

Date(s): Ayyubid-Mamluk (according coin finds of the 1963 excavation). An unpublished inscription, however, reports that the mosque had been constructed during the reign of Abū’l-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Aḥmad al-Muʿtadhid (895-932 AD), better known under his regnal name al- Muqtadir bi-llāh.The inscription gives as date for the

construction the year H 250 / 927 AD.

Traveler Reports: see no. 298.

Bibliography: Clermont-Ganneau 1900, 1903; Provincia Arabia II. 1905, 195-207; Dajani 1964; Zayadine 1971; Lescot 1968; Ghawanmeh 1986, 7-8 fig. 6; 58; Walmsley 2001, 534-536; Zayadine 2002, 37 fig. 2; Waheeb 2003; Hübner 2006, 24-30; Sqour - Abu Ghanimeh 2014, 10 with note 46.

 
Fig. 301.1 Exterior S elevation (TMW-K 2016).
Fig. 301.2 Schematic plan of lower mosque (Mhaoesh 2019, 67 fig 15).
Fig. 301.3 Total view of lower mosque from N (TMW-K 2016).
Fig. 301.4 Exterior E elevation (TMW-K 2016).
Fig. 301.5 Interior S wall, detail of miḥrāb and minbar (TMW-K).
Fig. 301.6 Interior prayer hall, view from E (TMW-K 2016).
Fig. 301.7 Schematic plan of lower mosque with hypothetical barrel- vaulted roof (Mhaoesh 2019,122).
 
Fig. 301.8 Plan and elevations of the lower mosque (Mhaoesh 2019, fig. 20).

Figures

[Fig. 301.1 ]
Exterior S elevation (TMW-K 2016).

[Fig. 301.2 ]
Schematic plan of lower mosque (Mhaoesh 2019, 67 fig 15).

[Fig. 301.3 ]
Total view of lower mosque from N (TMW-K 2016).

[Fig. 301.4 ]
Exterior E elevation (TMW-K 2016).

[Fig. 301.5]
Interior S wall, detail of miḥrāb and minbar (TMW-K).

[Fig. 301.6 ]
Interior prayer hall, view from E (TMW-K 2016).

[Fig. 301.8 ]
Plan and elevations of the lower mosque (Mhaoesh 2019, fig. 20).