330. Ṣamad | صمد

Irbid Governorate

Jāmi‘ ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn ‘Aūf.

JADIS no. 2220050

MEGA no. 11471

Coordinates: 32°27'34.8"N 35°49'54.5"E

32.459667, 35.831806

Plan: square, on ancient foundations, an entirely new building has been raised in skeleton concrete.

Measurements: none known.

Building Materials: limestone ashlars with a number of Roman spoils: Roman door lintel with wreath and two paterae (fig. 330.1), probably reused from a tomb; vanished today.

Construction details: none known.

Preservation: destroyed and overbuilt by a modern building of the same dimensions and of similar plan. The Arabic inscription is still visible in the masonry to the left side of the miḥrāb, but is has been rechiseled and painted in recent times (fig. 330.3).

Inscription(s): Arabic inscription (97 x 60 cm, squeeze) with rounded characters from the transitional period between Kufic and nashki; dated to djumādā II year 522 H = June 1128 (van Berchem 1903):

Translation: “And it has written Iāsir (or Nāshib), and he has written this inscription with his own hand. In djumādā II of the month in the year 522”. (van Berchem 1903).

Date(s): Fatimid: 522 H = June 1128 (van Berchem 1903); 520 H = 1126 AD (Steuernagel 1927); old mosque entirely demolished and newly built on the same site with the same dimensions in 2005 cf. fig. 330.4).

Traveler Reports: “Im Nordosten liegt eine alte Moschee mit miḥrāb, einer Tür im Norden und einer arabischen Inschrift, die aus dem Jahr 520 H = 1126 n. Chr. Datiert ist; zu ihr sind alte römische Bausteine, große Quader, alte Kapitelle, Gesimse mit Eierstäben und ein alter Türsturz (Abb. 109) benutzt. Beachte außerdem den in eine Mauer eingebauten Grabstein aus Muschelkalk mit einer Büste in Form eines Medaillons von 9,40 m Durchmesser, der in Abb. 110 wiedergegeben ist…” (Steuernagel 1927).

Bibliography: Steuernagel 1927, A. 136. 426-427 figs 109-110; Glueck 1951, 47-49; Khammash 1986, 33-38; Ta‘an 2019, 118-119 figs. 3. 108-110