|
Wasit is an Islamic city south east of Kut Iraq, built in
the last quarter of the first Hijra century (the 7th century
CE) by Al-Hajaj bin Yousif Al-Thaqafi, as an administrative centre
for Iraq. The city was built in 702 CE on the west bank of the
Tigris across from the historical city of Kashkar. Al-Hajjaj
is said to have taken the doors for the citadel and the main
mosque from Zanzaward. As an ancient city its circumference was
an amazing 16 km. It was abandoned in the tenth century after
the change in the river (Tigris) bed. Its remains stood sound
and safe due to its distance away from constructive and agricultural
influence. However in recent years this has changed and fars
are encroching all ovr the ruins. Most of its buildings were
made of bricks. Investigations took place there between 1936-1945
by F. Safar, (excavation 1939-1945) as well as some small renovations
and restorations in recent years. Its large mosque and a building
known as the minaret was cleared out, including a tomb and a
school that date back to the seventh century. Preservations took
place on some parts of the minaret due to walls been worn out,
but no real maintenanance was carried out.
Below left is a drawing made by Creswell. On the right is
a drawing made by the Safar expedition. There are several things
to note from this drawing. First, as Creswells drawing shows,
there are two mosques at this spot. The earliest mosque was built
by al-Hajjaj. The later mosque was above it, built later. Second
there is a descrpency between the angles of the two mosques.
While they look close, the angels of the two drawings do not
match exatly. This is why modern measurments, made with more
exact instruments is important.
|
|
This small discrpency has caused the Wasit Mosque to be in
the center of much discussion and disagreement. Originally, Creswell
and Fehervari claimed that Hejjaj's mosque pointed to Jerusalem.
(Creswell, 1969 pg 137 & 1989, pg 40; Fehervari, 1961, pg
89; Crone-Cook 1977, pgs 23 & 173) However, more recent research
has shown that this mosque does not point to Mecca or Jerusalem,
but somewhere in northern Saudi Arabia. In their internet article
Islamic Awareness, The Qibla of Early Mosques, Jerusalem or
Makkah? M S M Saifullah, Muhammad Ghoniem, ’Abd al Rahman,
Robert Squires and Man'ur Ahmed demonstrate that the qibla of
the Wasit Hajjaj mosque points to neither Jerusalem (too far
north) or Mecca (too far south). They claimed that Wasit was
off by 33° from the true qibla. This would mean that the
direction of Hajjaj's mosque was 122° west of North. Illustrated
below.
|
