Letter D

94. Dhibān | ذيبان

Madābā Governorate

Maqām / Weli Shēkh Sālem ibn Mislāḥ (also known as Mazār al-Khalīl)

JADIS no.2210002

MEGA no. 11151

Coordinates: 31°30'00.0"N 35°46'38.0"E

31.500000, 35.777222

 

 

Plan: Rectangular with door in the N long wall, two small windows in the E and W short walls. The building was erected within a courtyard lined by megalithic ancient stones.

Measurements: unknown.

Exterior: unknown.

Interior: unknown.

Building Materials: As far visible on the 1945 photo, at least the courtyard consisted of reused ancient blocks and column drums (obviously limestone) of pre-Islamic origin. The exterior walls including the gabled roof of the tomb building were covered with whitewashed mud plaster.

Construction details: Courtyard wall of megalithic construction with the use of pre-Islamic spolia.

Preservation: The venerated Shēkh Sālem bin Mislāḥ had been killed in 1895 and his tomb was erected on the top of Tell Dhibān. It has been argued that the Muslim funeral shrine occupied the location of an old sanctuary of a local Moabite God in the Iron-Age royal city. The Islamic tomb had been moved from the Tell to the actual cemetery S of it at the begin of scientific excavations in 1950-53 of the American Schools of Oriental Research’s project led by F.V. Winnett and later by W. L. Reed.

Inscription(s): none known.

Date(s): Late Ottoman (1895).

Traveler Reports: “Fast in der Mitte des schon erwähnten Stadtgebietes sieht man Überreste eines einzelnen vereckigen Bauwerkes, von dem sich östlich das weißgetünchte Grabmal des Sâlem bin Misleh befindet. Der Bau (N.-S.) ist 28 Schritte breit und besteht aus zwei Räumen, von denen der östliche 16 Schritte, der westliche aber 24 Schritte lang ist; er wird als heiliger Ort mizâr el-Halîl verehrt.” (A. Musil 1902, in: Arabia Petraea I).

Bibliography: Arabia Petraea I, 378; Tushingham 1972, 85; 101; Chatelard – de Tarragon 22010, 91.

 
Fig. 94.1 Maqām, condition ca. 1945 (Chatelard – de Tarragon 22010,91).
Fig. 94.2 Maqām Shēkh Sālem ibn Mislāḥ, condition ca. 1910.
Fig. 94.3 Approximate former location of the tomb of Shēkh Sālem ibn Mislāḥ, in the background the cemetery to which it had been transferred in the mid of the 20th century (NAt).

Figures

[Fig. 94.1 ]
Maqām, condition ca. 1945 (Chatelard – de Tarragon 22010,91).

[Fig. 94.2 ]
Maqām Shēkh Sālem ibn Mislāḥ, condition ca. 1910.

[Fig. 94.3 ]
Approximate former location of the tomb of Shēkh Sālem ibn Mislāḥ, in the background the cemetery to which it had been transferred in the mid of the 20th century (NAt).