Mosque Abw Bydt Amr Bn Aljrah

Within the industrial city of Zarqa in northern Jordan, the Mosque of Abu Ubaydah Amir ibn al Jarrah whom God find pleasing with him, honours one among the ten promised the garden during his earthly life, the trusted general who led the Muslim armies into Syria in the time of the caliph Umar ibn al Khattab, may God be pleased with him. Abu Ubaydah was praised by the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, as the trustworthy one of this community, and his tomb in the Jordan Valley at Deir Alla remains a place of visitation for pilgrims travelling between Amman and the river. Mosques across Jordan carry his name in gratitude for the sacrifice and integrity of his example.

Zarqa itself, whose name in Arabic means the blue, takes its name from the azure waters of the nearby Zarqa River, a tributary of the Jordan. The city grew rapidly in the twentieth century as a refuge for Palestinian and Iraqi families displaced by successive conflicts, and as a hub of oil refining, cement manufacture, and military industry. Its Islamic life blends the rural piety of the Bani Hassan tribal federation alongside the city customs of Palestinian refugees from Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Jaffa.

Architecturally the mosque follows the modern Jordanian idiom, drawing lightly on Umayyad precedent: a broad central dome finished in cream colour finish and finished by a brass crescent, flanked by double minarets stepping up in three shrinking stages, and a façade clad in warm honey coloured Jordanian limestone. horseshoe arches with pointed crowns frame the entrance porch, and the inner courtyard is paved in grey granite. The main chamber receives light from large chandeliers of Syrian brass, the mihrab carved in pale marble inlaid with mother of pearl arabesques, and the minbar shaped from cedar with latticed polygon panels. Deep green patterned carpet covers the floor.

The mosque hosts Friday prayers for thousands of worshippers, iftar mats in ramadan receive travellers and the poor, Quran memorisation classes for the neighbourhood children, and commemorations of Abu Ubaydah's noble character, weaving his example into the daily life of the congregation.