Mosque Name: Hayan Mishref
Country: Jordan
City: Mufraq Governate
Year of construction (AD): 700-799
GPS: 32.267299° 36.153612°
Gibson Classification: Petra
Rebuilt facing Mecca: never
Description:
Hayan Mishref is a small Umayyad village, east of Thagara. It has an ancient mosque with qibla wall that faces 195 degrees, which is towards Petra. This wall appears to be the original orientation of mosque. Some have suggested it was an earlier building that was later used as a mosque.
Pernaps the mihrab was built into a preexisting door way that facing doorway. From measurements taken on the ground, the eastern side of the mihrab faced 190 degrees and the western side of the mihrab faced 200 degrees. Averaging the two, the focus of the mihrab seems to be about 195 degrees.
Gibson’s interpretation is that the original building was a Rashidun styled mosque,
More information can be found on page 155 in: Islamic Heritage Sites in Jordan, A Student’s Gazetteer, prepared by the MA-Students of The German-Jordanian University, in Architectural Conservation School for Architecture and Built Environment Academic Years, 2017 - 2020, edited by Thomas M. Weber-Karyotakis & Ammar Khammash with Hussein al-Aza‘at, Nader Atiyeh, Catreena Hamarneh, Khairiyeh al-Kukhun & Robert Schick. GJU, Amman 2020
Hyan Mishref village. The mosque is at the center top, near where a road comes from the north.
Sketch of the mosque. Note that the Qibla wall faces Petra, but the mihrab seems to be turned slightly south, perhaps trying for a Between direction.
Dan Gibson sits to the left of the mihrab niche.
Notice the leftward curving of the mihrab does not seem as pronounced at the site as in the drawings.
The Hyan Mishref church.
There are several things to notice at this site. First, the mosque dimensions are similar to many early Rashidun mosques. 21 wide x13 deep. Once early mosques were enlarged with pillars, the pillars were mostly square. The square pillars are reflected in the nearby church.
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