413. Umm al-Walīd | أم الوليد

Mādābā Governorate

Name: Jāmi‘

JADIS no. 2311002

MEGA no. 12369, mosque 59365

Coordinates: 31°38'48.4"N 35°53'59.0"E

31.646778, 35.899722

Plan: long rectangular; entrance in the middle of the N wall facing the miḥrāb in S wall, miḥrāb niche protruding at the exterior of the S wall; at the E side chamber with entrance to prayer hall; along the N façade a podium (As a remnant of the mosque’s first construction phase, see Rashan 2009), the same along the S part of W wall. The interior is divided by four stylobate plaques in two naves running parallel to the qibla wall, each nave subdivided into three bays. The interior supports correspond to half-columns in the E and W walls. The roof construction rested on two rows of triple transversal arches. The presence of a minaret is a matter of scholarly controversial dispute (Ajluni 1992).

Measurements: 144.2 m² Umayyad; 206.5 m² ‘Abbasid.

Exterior: 10.30 x 14 m (Umayyad Mosque, Bujard – Genequand 2001) 12.50 x 11.80 m (Rashan 2009); the mosque of the second construction phase was slightly shorter at the N side and extended over full length by an additional room with a width of 5 m.

Interior: unknown.

Building Materials: limestone and basalt blocks, some of them, such as the column drums certainly from older pre-Islamic buildings, laid in horizontal layers and bond with lime mortar.

Construction details: two-sided masonry with a fill of rubble and earth in the interior; fairly well-dressed limestone blocks arranged in horizontal courses in irregular bondage; occasionally smaller flakes are inserted into the joints to balance the horizontal courses. The miḥrāb in present condition is built from well-trimmed stones, placed between mortar and small flaked basalt pieces and limestones.

Preservation: ruined, preserved up to three rows of masonry blocks. The two upper courses of the masonry have been added during recent restoration work, the surfaces are sealed with sand-concrete; not in use for Muslim prayers.

Inscription(s): none known.

Date(s): The first construction phase (Fig. 414.2, in blue) is dated to the Umayyad period. The mosque has been changed in plan and dimensions during the ‘Abassid rule (Fig. 414.2 red with hatching). During Mamluk times the building was transformed into a residence.

Traveler Reports: “Near the east of the city we found a large open space, well paved with large slabs, still perfect and clear, and surmounted by ruins and broken pillars, with a few fragments of capitals, as if it had once encircled by a colonnade. It was 41 paces by 39 in extent inside, and may have been the old ἀγορά or forum. Immediately beyond was the line of the east wall of the city, built of Roman rustic-dressed stone, and the central gateway and street, still plainly to be traced. S, by 10 yards E to W. The door of the temple faced east, and, in the center of the south wall, is a small semicircular niche or apse for the image. Inside the doorway the bases of columns remain in situ and four Doric capitals and portions of the shafts are lying about. This temple is exactly similar in all its arrangements to the old Doric temple near Khan Zebib. Are these the remains of an ancient Chemosh, or Baal worship? We found afterwards similar temples in various stages of ruin, all of them outside a city, always at its east end, and with a door to the east, and always Doric, whenever the architecture could be determined.” (Tristram 21874).

Bibliography: Tristram ²1874, 179-181 fig. 15; Provincia Arabia II. 1905, 89-90 fig. 671; Herzfeld 1921, 130; Creswell I ²1969, 506; King– Lenzen – Rollefson 1983, 399-405; Ajlouni 1992, 32-33; Haldimann 1992, 307-311; Bujard – Trillen 1997, 353-357; Darakneh 1998, 39-40 with plan in appendix; Bujard - Genequand 2001, 192-193; Genequand 2002, 587-588 fig. 6,2; O’Kane 2005, 195-196 with notes 23 and 26 fig. 8; Rashan 2009, 3-4. 139 figs. 1-3. 166 pl. 1b; Shqour - Abu Ghanimeh 2014, 3 with note 4; Shqour 2015, 89-99; Antun 2016, 218; Shqour 2019, 86-96.