Mosque Name: Qasr Al-Hallabat Mosque
Country: Jordan
City: Desert Castle
Year of construction (AD): 705-740 AD Set according to texts
GPS: 32° 5’35.51”N 36°19’40.96”E
Gibson Classification: Mecca
For a Link to the Qibla Tool Click Here
Description:
This Qasr was originally located in an isolated spot in the eastern desert, but now modern development is starting to surround it. It began as a Roman fortress, built on the road linking Azraq to the Via Nova Triana under the reign of Emperor Caracalla. About two kilometers away is a bathhouse known locally as Hammam Al-Sarrah.
Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn Abdul Malik (742 CE / 124 AH) ordered the demolishing of the Roman fortress in the 8th century AD and ordered new developments of a grand palace. (Wan Hussin, 2010). It is unclear if this actually happened as the Roman fortress seems t be mostly intact. Perhaps the Qasr was simply upgraded, and instead a large mosque added. The external mosque dates to 212 AH / 827 CE when the rebuilding was to take place. One inscription dates some construction to as late as 529 AH. The main fortress does not seem to have a Qibla direction, probably due to its Roman origins. The mosque for the Qasr is in the bottom left corner of the photo below. The mosque Qibla is clearly defined by a mihrab, and faces Mecca. (0.68°)
The mosque is to the left with a clearly defined mihrab niche.
The Qiblas of the Qasr, (red) and the mosque (blue). Mecca is green.
References
Bisheh, Ghazi, 1980. “Excavations at Qasr al-Hallabat, 1979”, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 24: 69-77. http://publication.doa.gov.jo/Publications/ViewChapterPublic/1732
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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