Mosque Name: Khirbet Khann al Zabib
Country: Jordan
City: Desert Castle
Year of construction (AH): 93 AH
Year of construction (AD): 712 AD
GPS: 31°30’49.91”N 36° 6’2.63”E
Gibson Classification: Between
Rebuilt facing Mecca: never
For a Link to the Qibla Tool Click Here
Description:
Khan el Zabib was one of the stopping places on the old Hijaz railway. Before that it was a caravan stopping place and also part of a line of fortresses (Qasrs). It is located near Qatrana, 35 km to the south of Amman . This caravanserai is 18 km southeast of Khirbet al-Zona and 5 km east of the Desert Highway. Much of the materials and some structures were taken from the remains of a small late Roman town. Although now damaged, just beyond the north-east corner, an Islamic caravanserai may still be seen. It is dated to 712-37 AD. The fort or caravanserai seems not to have been excavated. Bujard argues that, as at Um el-Walid, all of these structures are Umayyad (Kennedy, 2000).
Khann al Zabib Mosque (external to the Qasr) has a rectangular shape (11.20x10.38m2) with two entrances from the north and east sides, with a recess at the southern wall. (Creswell) It faces close to Petra.
Around 7.5 kilometers from Khann al-Zabib is Qasr al Hammam (Al `Amiriyah) (M Bendi website :Qasr Mushash - Ancient Ruin near Al Muwaqqar, Amman, Jordan). The mosque has a semicircular mihrab.
The Qasr is oriented towards the Between Qibla position.
The Mosque Plan. Credit Jacques Bujard
Compare the mosque Qibla with that of the Qasr
Mosque Qibla faces Petra
References
Bujard, Jacques, and Genequand, Denis, 2001. “Um al-Walid et Khan az-Zabib, deux éstablissements omeyyades en limite du désert Jordanien“, in: Bernard Geyer, Conquête de la steppe et appropriation des terres sur les marges arides du Croissant fertile, TMO 36, Lyon: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux, 189-218. https://www.persee.fr/doc/mom_1274-6525_2001_thm_36_1_1172
Genequand, Denis, 2009. “Trois sites omeyyades de Jordanie centrale: Umm al-Walid, Khan al-Zabib et Qasr al-Mshatta (travaux de la Fondation Max van Berchem 1988-2000)”, in: Karin Bartl and Abd al-Razzaq Moaz (eds.), Residences, Castles, Settlements, Orient-Archäologie 24, Rahden: Verlag Marie Leidorf, 125-151.
Genequand, Denis, 2012. Les établissements des élites omeyyades en Palmyrène et au Proche-Orient, Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 200, Beirut: IFPO. https://www.ifporient.org/978-2-35159-380-6/
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