314. Ṣā’d, south | صعد الجنوبي

al-Mafraq Governorate

Masjid.

JADIS no. 2419006

MEGA no. 17698, mosque 3248

Coordinates: 32°20'21.0"N 35°58'52.0"E

32.339167, 35.981111

Plan: broad rectangular with entrance in N wall facing miḥrāb in S wall projecting from the exterior, in the interior framed on each side by a column. Over full width of N wall runs a narrow podium (ziyādeh) and a broad three-stepped staircase leads down to a courtyard with curved N retaining wall.

Measurements: 26.52 m²

Exterior: 6.0 m x 16.4 m

Interior: 3.4 x 7.8 m.

Building Materials: local brownish to grey-white, semi porous marl limestone, carefully cut in blocks of considerable sizes in the N and S long walls (reused from older buildings in the area), unworked fieldstones in the shorter E and W walls.

Construction details: The S wall displays at least two phases of construction: The original wall with miḥrāb out of carefully cut blocks in horizontal rows without mortar has been reinforced by an additional wall of porous blocks in more irregular courses at the E and W sector of the wall. The recessing corners on both sides of the miḥrāb were filled with a monolithic column as a frame. The natural rock was widely used as the floor in the prayer hall. The augmented thicknesses of the longer S and N walls indicate that the prayer hall was covered by an elongated barrel vault oriented from E to W.

Preservation: ruined, not in use for Muslim prayer.

Inscription(s): none known.

Date(s): Umayyad or Mamluk.

Traveler Reports: none known.

Bibliography: Sari 1995, 16 (with illustration); Rjoub – Housan 2013, 477 no. 22 (confuses the information and pictures of the N and S mosques).