Letter S

368. Sōm al-Shunnāq | سوم الشناق

Irbid Governorate

Masjid Ab ū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭāleb

JADIS no. 2222014

MEGA no. 2887, 17274

Coordinates: 32°35'16.7"N 35°47'38.7"E

32.587967, 35.794092

 

 

Plan: broad rectangular, in the corners and on each long buttresses which support cross vaults dividing the hall in three bays. These bays are not equal in size, the E one is square while the middle and W ones are rectangular. In the N wall of the middle bay slightly decentered door (shifting to the W) facing the miḥrāb in the S wall; in the N wall two double windows, a further single one in the W, and a smaller one in the W bay of the S wall. In front of the N wall a fenced courtyard (saḥn) with a gate in the E.

Measurements: 67.6 m2

Exterior: unknown.

Interior: 13 m x 5.2 m.

Building Materials: limestone blocks, carefully cut, with mortar bondage in joints.

Construction details: The recessed door with a segmentally arched upper frame is set into a larger blind arch on the W side of the N façade. The masonry consist of 16 horizontal rows of limestone blocks in irregular isodomic arrangement. The joints are bond with mortar and have been painted with brown color in recent times. The roof was covered with a concrete slab during recent restoration. The cross-vault arches are not clearly separated from each other. The interior walls have been plastered and white-washed in recent times. At the wall pillar W of the miḥrāb a three-stepped minbar was constructed of stone (not shown in fig. 368.1).

Preservation: The old mosque survives today but it is abandoned as a larger new mosque was built SE of it.

Inscription(s): none known

Date(s): Late Ottoman. The plan corresponds closely to that of the mosques at Sāl (no. 321), ‘Al‘āl (no. 26) and Sāḥm al-Kferāt (no. 316).

Traveler Reports: none known.

Bibliography: Schumacher 1890 (reprint 2010) 142; Mittmann 1970, 28-29; Daire 1988, 120 s.v. Sōm; Ta‘an 2019, 122-123 figs. 3. 115-117.

 
Fig. 368.1 Sketch ground plan (DT).
Fig. 368.2 Exterior view of W wall with courtyard gate (DT 2018).
Fig. 368.3 N façade with double windows on both sides of the recessed door, the latter set into a larger blind arch (DT 2018).
Fig. 368.4 Interior view of W and S wall with miḥrāb and minbar (DT 2018).
Fig. 368.5 Interior view of S wall with miḥrāb and minbar shifted tothe W (DT 2018).

Figures

[Fig. 368.1 ]
Sketch ground plan (DT).

[Fig. 368.2 ]
Exterior view of W wall with courtyard gate (DT 2018).

[Fig. 368.3 ]
N façade with double windows on both sides of the recessed door, the latter set into a larger blind arch (DT 2018).

[Fig. 368.4 ]
Interior view of W and S wall with miḥrāb and minbar (DT 2018).

[Fig. 368.5 ]
Interior view of S wall with miḥrāb and minbar shifted tothe W (DT 2018).