66. Bīr Khdād, Khirbet | خربة بير خداد

Ma‘ān Governorate

Masjid (al-qadīm)

JADIS no. 2098001

MEGA no. 9779

Coordinates: 30°26'28.1"N 35°32'35.7"E

30.441139, 35.543250

Plan: rectangular, with a broad rectangular courtyard in the N over the full width of the mosque, the floor of it on a lower level in relation to the surrounding area. A pilaster out of skeleton concrete at the northern sector of the W wall was added recently to serve as a minaret with loudspeakers. The floor of the mosque is on the same lowered level like the courtyard. Its plan is long rectangular with the door in the middle of the N wall (blocked today) facing the miḥrāb in the S wall. The interior has two perpendicular transversal arches carrying the flat roof. In the W long wall the space between the arches has each one window, two further windows on both sides of the miḥrāb. The E and the N walls are entirely closed with-out windows.

Measurements: 46.26 m²

Exterior: 7.82 x 9.43-9.60 m

Interior: 5.97 x 7.75m

Building materials: Local sandstone and limestone.

Construction details: The dry masonry consists of two sides: The exterior masonry is constructed in al least 13 horizontal courses of well-dressed cubic limestones of different heights. In part, these limestone blocks seem to be of ancient date. The inner side is constructed in random masonry of semi-dressed stones and bound with lime-mortar (fig. 66.7). All interior walls have been covered by a dung and hay-mixed whitewashed mortar (tibn). The miḥrāb, window frames of the S qibla wall are painted with dark green oil color. The roof construction consists of peeled pistacchio tree beams laid in perpendicular arrangement on the horizontal crowns of the arches, mats of cane and superimposed layers of earth with thorny shrubs (fig. 66.8). The traditional roof cover was recently sealed by a thin concrete slab.

Preservation: abandoned; The door and all the windows (apart from the one to the E of the miḥrāb) have been recently closed by modern hallow concrete blocks and cement “in order to prevent Muslim people to enter for prayer.” Some further sarcastic remarks from local inhabitants of the village confirmed the impression that there is an internal conflict in the municipality about the semi-ruined traditional old village.

Inscription(s): none known. The external face of the door lintel is partly plastered. On one of the remaining patches of the plaster are the remains of an illegible Arabic inscription.

Date(s): The plan follows Fatimid prototypes at Bosra eski-Shām or even earlier Umayyad types with transversal arches like the older Umayyad mosque at Ḥumayma (no. 141). The superstructure is of much younger date, perhaps Ottoman. The use of peeled wooden beams and cane mats, however, predate the present building before the 1920s when iron beams.

Traveler Reports: None known.

Bibliography: Schick 2020 , no. 15.