Mosque Name: Amman Umayyad Mosque
Country: Jordan
City: Amman
Year of construction (AH): 82 AH
Year of construction (AD): 710 AD
GPS: 31°57’16.48”N 35°56’4.53”E
Gibson Classification: Between
Rebuilt facing Mecca: never
Note: In the film, the Sacred City (shot in 2014), this mosque was mistakenly classified as a Petra facing mosque. At that time Dan Gibson was still in the middle of his research. When he published his first book Qur’anic Geography, (2010) he had not yet identified the Between Qiblas. However, when so many Between Qiblas became apparent, he changed this mosque’s classification to Between. The very latest data is available in the Online Qibla Tool, and this should always be used, rather than a documentary film, or a YouTube video.
For a Link to the Qibla Tool Click Here
Description:
The foundation of the old congregational mosque on the Amman Jordan citadel is about 30 meters square. This building was built around 710 AD. So far, it has not been possible to absolutely date the time of construction of these buildings, but they were built early during Umayyad rule. However if you examine the photo below you can see that the first set of buildings (lower center) faced south. The later buildings (blue dome and north) were built around 740 AD and reveal a new focus and direction, that of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The original buildings faced the Between Qibla and the newer buildings (built some 30 years later) faced Mecca. See this page for the newer buildings. During the period between these two constructions the second civil war of Islam concluded and General Hajjaj put down several rebellions, and then built his own mosque in Iraq facing the Between Qibla position.
There has always been some controversy over why the two donot have matching directions. According to Northedge, “The Umayyad Mosque of ‘Amman,” 148, The Palestine Exploration Fund’s survey found the qibla of the mosque to be 20 degrees out but Northridge claimed they were using a north point incorrect by 11-12 degrees, so the error is only 8-9 degrees.
You can see why Gibson first classified this mosque as a Petra mosque, but once many Between mosques were identified, the classification was changed to Between.
References
Almagro, Antonio, and Jiménez, Pedro, 2000. “The Umayyad Mosque of the Citadel of Amman”, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 44: 459-475. http://publication.doa.gov.jo/Publications/ViewChapterPublic/1386
Almagro, Antonio, Jiménez Castillo, Pedro, and Julio Navarro Palazón, 2000. El Palacio Omeya de ‘Ammān, III. Investigación arqueológica y restauración, 1989-1997, Granada: Real Academia Belles Artes de Granada. https://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/14570
Northedge, Alastair, 1989. “The Umayyad Mosque of Amman”, in: Muhammad Adnan Bakit and Robert Schick (eds.), The History of Bilād al-Shām During the Umayyad Period. Fourth International Conference, 24-29 October 1987, Amman: Proceedings of the Third Symposium, vol. II, Amman: The University of Jordan and Yarmouk University, 140-163.
Conder, C.R., 1889. The Survey of Eastern Palestine. Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, Archaeology, etc., vol. I – The ʿAdwân Country, London: The Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 57-58.
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