380. Ṭaybeh, aṭ- | الطيبة

Irbid governorate

Masjid aṭ-Ṭaybeh al-kebīr.

JADIS no. 212 1080

MEGA no. 5309

Coordinates: 32°32'31.0"N 35°43'04.0"E

32.541944, 35.717778

Plan: From the original mosque nothing remains. According to oral reports by inhabitants in the neighborhood of the present mosque, the preceding building, constructed in the years after 1901, has been not large enough to accommodate the growing number of Muslim inhabitants of the village. At least, the three Arabic inscriptions (1-3) preserved today at the NW exterior façade of the present modern building allows the conclusion that the old mosque had three entrance portals above which these three inscriptions were displayed. A vague conclusion on the mosque's original plan which is irretrievably demolished today, can be drawn by the notice of G. Schumacher (1890) that the aṭ-Ṭaybeh mosque was similar to that in Kufr ‘Asad: This specimen displays a two aisled ground plan with the naves running parallel to the qibla wall, each of them divided into three cross vaulted bays (see above s.v. Kufr ‘Essad, no. 210). It seems therefore, that the original aṭ-Ṭaybe mosque had blueprinted the plan of the Rēmūn mosque (no. 306) which would well fit to the below epigraphic evidence.

Measurements: unknown.

Exterior: unknown.

Interior: unknown.

Building Materials: Four capitals in the ablution bath serving today as seats eventually belong to the earlier mosque of 1901.

Construction details: originally cross vaulted.

Preservation: The mosque was rebuilt on the foundations of the ruined mosque in 1901. This has been replaced by the present building in the1960s.

Inscription(s): Three Arabic inscriptions (1-3) commemorating the construction of the former mosque have survived. They have been inserted in the SW sector of the exterior façade of the modern mosque.

The completely preserved inscriptions 1 and 2 give the same text with minor paleographic differences. Inscription 2 is today better legible than the inscription 1. As their Arabic texts indicate, these two blocks had been displayed above the smaller lateral entrances:

Translation: “Constructed this blessed door the servant in need of Allāh, the Exalted, Muḥammad ibn Sinān ibn Bassūmī (?). May Allāh forgive him and his parents. On the date of the month of highly appreciated Ramadhān of glorious power (in the) year one and ninety and seven hundred.” (NAt, RS).

Inscription 3 is considerably longer in width but smaller in height. It conserves three lines in Kufi in flat relief. Due to weathering, especially the upper line are in parts illegible and the right half of the blocks rather difficult a to decifer:

Transcription (NAt):

Translation (NAt): “[....] the learned Ḥusām al-Dīn al-Manṣūr Lūlū al-Malikī al-Ṣāliḥī, the servant […] ibn Yūsuf (?) ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥusaynī al-Ḥasanī. Year seven and eighty and six hundred (?).” (Translation RS).

Date(s): According to the present reading of inscription no. 3, the date of H 687 = 6^th February 1288 to 24^th January 1289 AD (cf. Steuernagel 1927) can only partly been confirmed - especially the reading of the last numeral in line 3 for the 100’s remains uncertain. Inscriptions 1-2 date 100 years later to H 791= 31^st December 1388 to 20^th December 1389. They probably referred to “the two circular archways” which G. Schumacher has seen before 1890. In case inscriptions 1-3 really belonged to one and the same building, they would attest two construction phases during the Mamluk period. This ruined mosque has been rebuilt in 1901 most likely on the same foundations and consequently with the same ground plan. This monument has been demolished by bulldozing in the 1960s to make space for the present new mosque.

Traveler Reports: “Two circular archways, we saw, are evidently of Mohammedan origin, probably the remains of a Jâma’, or mosque, similar to the one in Kefr Esaid.” (Schumacher 1890 [reprint 2010]). “In neuerer Zeit sind die Reste einer dschâmi' aufgedeckt; erhalten sind der Boden, das miḥrâb, einige Säulen und korinthische Kapitelle aus Marmor. Nach einer gefundenen Inschrift stammte der Bau aus dem Jahre 687 d.H. -1287 n.Chr. Im Jahre 1901 gedachte man die Moschee wieder aufzubauen - 'wenn es regnet und Allâh uns einen guten bêdar (Tenne) gibt' bemerkte der Schêch. Ein halbblinder Fakîr bewachte und bediente die dschâmi' und legte Dr. Schumacher und seinen Begleitern eine Matte zurecht, damit sie den Boden nicht verunreinigten; er erhielt dafür eine erste Spende für den Neubau.” (Steuernagel 1927).

Bibliography: Schumacher 1890 (reprint 2010) 123-125. 203; Schumacher 1901, 9; Schumacher, 1902, 20-31; Steuernagel - Schumacher 1924, 225 (= A. 33); Steuernagel - Schumacher 1926, 63-64 (= 1927, A. 447-448), pl. 20A. 62 (Inscription of H 687 = AD1287); Steuernagel 1927, A 137. 174; Ta‘an 2019, 124-125 figs. 3. 118-120; Khateb 220, 97; for a possible connection of aṭ-Ṭaybeh with 1. Macc: 46-53; Polybios, Hist. V,70,12-71,3 cf. Mittmann1970,164. 223. 227-228.