Mosque Name: Um Al Walid
Country: Jordan
City: Um Walid
Year of construction (AH): 93 AH
Year of construction (AD): 712 AD
GPS: 31.646810 35.899799
West Qasr: Gibson Classification: Between
East Qasr: Gibson Classification: Petra
East Qasr Mosque: Gibson Classification: Between
Rebuilt facing Mecca: never
For a Link to the Qibla Tool Click Here
Description:
The ruins of Umm al-Walid are southeast of Madaba in the town of Um Walid. They cover the length of a small hill. This site has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The existing building ruins are a mixture of Roman and Islamic architecture. The Islamic ruins consist of a an Eastern Qasr and a western Qasr. There is a stand-alone mosque east of the eastern Qasr. It was built about the same period as the Eastern Qasr as they share the same building materials and same architectural motives
The existence of two Umayyad era Qasrs, with the same town is unique. Did two families or factions live in this town, requiring two different Qasrs? It is interesting to note that the eastern Qasr faced Petra and the western Qasrs faced a Between Qibla. However, the mosque east of the eastern Qasr has a Between Qibla. None of these buildings are oriented towards Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
There are three buildings with orientation at this site. An Qasr to the west, a Qasr to the east, and an external mosque on the eastern side of the town.
The eastern Qasr and mosque have different orientation
The west Qasr has the same Qibla as the eastern mosque.
The western Qasr is in ruins.
Um Walid East Qasr Door. Clearing and restoration word has been done on this Qasr.
The main door to the Um Walid west Qasr
Um Walid Church
References for External Mosque
Haldimann, Marc-André, 1992. “Les implantations omeyyades dans la Balqa: L’apport d’Umm-el-Walid”, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 36: 307-321. http://publication.doa.gov.jo/Publications/ViewChapterPublic/1625
Bujard, Jacques, and Schweizer, François, 1993. Entre Byzance et l’Islam: Umm er-Rasas et Umm el-Walid Fouilles genevoises en Jordanie, Genèva: Musée d‘art et d’histoire.
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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