Letter T
Irbid governorate
Maqām Shēkh Ḥamed al-Jelānī, according to local informants the tomb considers as that of Shēkh Ṣālih al-Ru‘āq.
JADIS no. 2121080
MEGA no. 5309; 25629
Coordinates: 32°32'28.5"N 35°43'08.5"E
32.541250, 35.719028
Plan: approximately square with one single entrance door in the N wall; double windows in the middle of the E and W walls; in the interior S wall a stone-framed miḥrāb niche of rectangular cross-section. In front of it is the tomb of the Shēkh which is oriented from E to W.
Measurements: 30.25 m2
Exterior: ca. 8.80 x 8.80 m.
Interior: ca. 5.50 x 5.50 m; thickness of wall ca. 1.20 cm.
Building Materials: well-dressed yellowish and rose limestone blocks for framing doors and windows. The W façade displays a high qualitative masonry of rectangular blocks in isodomic bondage with the use of mortar in the joints. All other sides have a masonry of more coarsely dressed stones with the insertion of flakes in the joints, which might indicate that these walls were originally covered with plaster.
Construction details: interior square room with well-dressed spheric triangles in the groins of the arches occupying the corners of the room as pendantifs merging into a circle to support the circular base of the dome. The dome is not original but has been recently cast in concrete.
Preservation: The building was under restoration (November 24th, 2018) with profound use of iron-grid reinforced concrete. Also the two-shelled concrete dome had been casted few days prior to our visit at the site. We assumed during the GJU-survey that in the next days also the exterior masonry might be covered by cement plaster.
Inscription(s): none known.
Date(s): Earlier Ottoman, probably 18th century AD. A neighbor living next to the maqām reported that Shēkh Ṣālih al-Ru‘āq was a pupil of Shēkh ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī at Baghdād. However, the construction of the dome pendantivs and other features of the masonry have a similarity to that of the Masjid az-Zaydāni at neighboring Tibneh (no. 385), which had been constructed in H 1185 = AD 1771/72.
Traveler Reports: none known.
Bibliography: unpublished.
