56. Beidhā’ / Umm Qussa | البيضا / أم قصّة

Ma‘ān Governorate

Masjid (2)

JADIS no. 1997037

MEGA no. 4279

Coordinates: 30°22'18.0"N 35°27'11.0"E

30.371667, 35.453056

Plan: rectangular, with miḥrāb protruding to exterior of S wall, door in the N sector of E wall; along each of the long walls two pilasters carrying transversal arches for support of a flat roof of perpendicular wooden beams with cane mats and hay-mud package. The transversal arches are supported by reused column drums.

Measurements: ca. 45 m²

Exterior: ca. 6.50 x 9 m-9.50 m (with miḥrāb).

Interior: ca. 5 x 7.50 m-9 m (with miḥrāb).

Building Materials: local sand and limestone, some ancient spolia such as the column drums.

Construction details: masonry in horizontal courses bond with mud mortar. The floor of hard packed soil is lowered compared with the exterior walking level; the entrance was by means of steps down, at the NE corner.

Preservation: ruined, not in use for Muslim prayer.

Inscription(s): none known.

Date(s): still under discussion. Parallels for the plan are known in ^cAinūn (no. 20a, additions) ar-Rājif (no. 296), aṭ-Ṭaybeh (no. 382) and ‘Azraq (no.44), cf. O’Kane 2005, 195.

Traveler Reports: none known.

Bibliography: Sinibaldi 2014-15, 660; Sinibaldi 2016-17, 74-75; Schick 2020 , no. 14.