Letter A
6. Abū Makhtūb | أبو مخطوب
Ma‘ān Governorate
Maqām / Dharīḥ / WeliYūsha ibn Nūn
JADISno. 2099025, 2099008
MEGAno. 9808, maqām4778
Coordinates:30°32’ 13.28” N;35°34’ 52.05” E
30.537022, 35.581125
Plan: The ruin preserves a building in two storeys of L- shaped plan. The upper level was a
barrel-vaulted hall (figs. 5.2-3), surmounting a natural cave in the basement, accessible by a
barrel-vaulted rock-cut passage way (figs. 5.1. 4).
Measurements: unknown.
Exterior: unknown.
Interior: unknown.
Construction details: No specific details known.
Preservation: According to Habahibah (1984),
the shrine was still in active use into the mid-20th century when married women would come
to the shrine, light oil lamps, burn incense and distribute sweets and food to children who
would gather for that purpose. In the 1960s some locals dug trenches around the shrine, but
they were stopped by the authorities; Habahibah (1984) claims the trenches were an attempt
at renovations. Today the sanctuary is ruined, its immediate environs served for the burials of
notables with their families of the near-by village until the first half of the 20th century. In a
recent house N of the maqām various decorated blocks have been reused for the construction
of an arch.
Inscription(s): Some fragments of major Arabic dedicatory inscriptions on marble
from the Mamluk period survive. Two fragments, inscription 1 a-b (Shqairat et alii 2018, 27-
28, fig. 15b and 15, c):
Translation: A: “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Com- [passionate]│the supporter, the victorious, the ki[ng]│[...] glorify his victory [...] B: ... the fighter in the fortresses, the fighter on the frontiers (muthāghir)│[...] the ruler of the two qiblahs [...]│of the believers and that by means of (bi-mubāsharāt) the a[mīr].” (Translation by RS).
A photograph taken by ‘Ammar Khammash in 1984 (Shqairat et alii 2018, 21, fig. 3; here fig. 6.7) shows two additional fragments (C-D) of the same inscription, which remained hitherto unpublished. They were obvious ly already lost when Shqairat et alii conducted the sur vey. Lower left corner of photograph (C): “[In the name of God, the Merciful, the] Compassionate. For rule is to God [...]│[...] al-Islam and the [...]│[...]. In the center of photograph (D): [In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Of what was done in the days of [...]│[...].
Date(s): Ayyubid-Mamluk. Fragment B has linguistic parallels in the inscription on the cenotaph at Jabal Ḥārūn, see here no. 151, inscription no. 3.
Traveler Reports: none known.
Bibliography: Habahibah 1984, 104-105; Khammash 1986, 83; Shqairat et alii 2018, 17-33 especially 21-23; Schick 2020, no. 1.
