425. Wādī Selma, west | وادي سلمى ( الغربي)

al-Mafraq governorate

Masjid, open air desert mosque (“mosque 2”)

JADIS no. 362 0011

MEGA no. 2819

Coordinates: 32°29'21.7"N 37°22'53.5"E

32.489356, 37.381514

(approximately).

Plan: Broad rectangular with rounded corners in SE and SW, miḥrāb incorporated into the straight qibla wall. The space of the mosque is accessible via a broad entrance spared from masonry in the E, opposite of it am semi-oval apse flares to the exterior. To the N of the prayer space is a horseshoe-shaped water reservoir (birkeh) which extends over the full width of the mosque.

Measurements: unknown.

Exterior: unknown.

Interior: unknown.

Building Materials: undressed flat basalt boulders.

Construction details: The basalt boulders have been heaped in various layers without the use of mortar. The spaces enclosed by the walls have been carefully cleaned from other stones and plants.

Preservation: preserved as an open-air mosque; the cleared interior space might indicate that it is still in use by the Bedouin of the area.

Inscription(s): Jbour 2001 reported one Arabic inscription from the mosque embedded in its qibla wall: The inscription is incised in an oblong trapezoid field with an ansa-shaped triangular protrusion at the upper border; all around framed by a band of cross-hatched incisions. The inscription runs on eight more or less horizontal lines:

Translation: “ In the name of Allāh, the Merciful and the Compassionate (bismillah) ǀ the creation of heavens ǀ and earth and the cycling (change) of night ǀ and days and directions of winds ǀ are signs (miracles) to reasoned people ǀ (it) wrote ... son of ‘Ali ǀ al-Jushmi and wrote (it in the) year seven hundred and ninety-five” (Jbour 2001)

Date(s): H 795 = AD. 1393. Traveler Reports: none known.

Bibliography: Jbour 1999, 10-66; Jbour 2001, 677 no. 9 fig. 2; Bqāʿīn 2004, 29 fig. 12 above left.