The Old Rafidia Mosque

Site Description: The mosque was built at the end of the village from the southeastern side, near Ein Rafidia (spring), the water source for Rafidia. The mosque consists of a prayer hall, which is square, 9 x 6 m in the middle of which is a stone Corinthian column that was reused in building the mosque. It has arches, which form the mosque's domed roof, consisting of four connected domes. The prayer hall is preceded by the entrance room from the north side, surmounted by a roof based on stone arches; the main entrance to the mosque is located on the western facade of the prayer hall. It is a beautiful door built in two overlapping arcs, and the upper entrance threshold has been installed below the entrance arch. This threshold bears an inscription that dates the building of the mosque during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1911 AD.The mosque's octagonal minaret stands at the western end of the mosque's southern facade, which is of medium height, next to the niche of the Qibla, where a stone pulpit was built, preceded by an arch containing a verse from al Quran engraved on the stones of this arch. In keeping with the rapid increase in the number of Rafidia's residents, and the increase in the number of worshipers, the mosque has been expanded several times. The first phase includes an architectural addition from the western side completed in 1984 AD, and the second expansion from the eastern side in 2015 AD. Then it was followed by establishing an upper floor for the east addition in 2020 AD, which allocated a house for teaching the Quran.