Mosque Name: Qasr Muwaqqar
Country: Jordan
City: Muwaqqar
Year of construction (AH): 104 AH
Year of construction (AD): 723 AD
GPS: 31°48’45.63”N 36° 6’13.67”E
Gibson Classification: Between (179 degrees)
Rebuilt facing Mecca: unknown
For a Link to the Qibla Tool Click Here
Description:
Qasr al-Muwaqqar is on the east side of Amman on the highway to Azraq. At one time it stood on an elevated mound surveying the desert and the cultivated lands to the west. Its position is in the line-of-sight of communication with Qastal and Mushatta to the west and Haranah to the east. Qasr al-Muwaqqar is surrounded by water infrastructure but most of the buildings have been destroyed, although many cisterns remain.
A huge capital on top of a water gauge column in the large reservoir states that al-Muwaqqar was constructed by ‘Abdallah ibn Sulaym by order of Caliph Yazid II ibn ‘Abd al-Malik, in 723 AD. A stone tower (10m) with Kufic inscriptions, now stands in the National Archaeological Museum in Amman, and was found by archaeologists at the site. The Qasr itself is oriented towards a Between qibla.
Some of the tombs in the Muwaqqar graveyard (31°48’49.94”N 36° 6’21.50”E) generally face Petra. The graveyard orientation is: 198.11° Petra is 201.14° which is about 3.03° degrees of error if the bodies are buried on their left side.
Arial photo of the Muwaqqar Qasr remains.
The Muwaqqar site is mostly in ruins, but some walls are clearly evident.
Much of the site is still underground
A lot more could be excavated at this site, but Muwaqqar is not high on anyones list.
The Muwaqqar graveyard contain graves from different eras with different orientations including Petra, Between and Mecca. The grave in the center of this photo faces Mecca. Some of the other graves are oriented towards Petra.
Dan Gibson and team examined many graves.
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