Where is Umm al-Rasas located?

Umm al-Rasas website

Umm al-Rasas is a Jordanian village located in the center of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, belonging to the Amman Governorate. It is approximately 30 km away from the city of Madaba to the southern side. Its ancient name is Kastron Mayfa’a, as stated in a text in the Greek language within a mosaic dating back to the Umayyad era. The name Mayfa’ah was also mentioned in Roman sources, where this was mentioned. Sources indicate that a Roman army unit was residing on the edge of the desert in the Mayfa’a area.

Its effects

Umm al-Rasas consists of three main parts:

• Roman fort: This fort is surrounded by a wall supported by a number of watchtowers on the Royal Commercial Road to maintain security and stability in the surrounding areas. This fort was built in the Byzantine period in the third century AD. A number of churches were built inside this wall. It is a rectangular building that includes a residence on one of its sides. Roman legion.
• Church group: Located north of the fort, a joint mission from the Vertican Fathers Institute of Archaeology and the Jordanian Department of Antiquities was able to uncover a religious complex consisting of four churches, some of which have their floors paved with mosaics. They are the Church of St. Sergius and the Church of St. Stephen.
• Hermit Tower: Located to the west of the fort, at the top of the tower, a room was built that the monk used for worship.

relevance

Umm al-Rasas is important from a religious and archaeological standpoint. Its religious importance is due to the presence of a number of churches that were built in the Byzantine era. The care, reconstruction, and construction of new churches continued in the Umayyad and Abbasid periods.

It also has aesthetic importance due to the presence of mosaic floors with wonderful expressions and drawings, as they represent pictures of benefactors, pictures of hunting, pictures of animals, and architectural forms of great precision and skill. These mosaics also show the names of some cities that were thriving in Palestine and Jordan. The discovery of churches that were built in the Umayyad era indicates Islamic and Christian coexistence has been true since ancient times.

Umm al-Rasas also has great religious value for Muslims. It was mentioned in the history of Mayfa’a Umm al-Rasas that the Holy Prophet Muhammad visited it in his youth before his mission during a commercial trip, and there was a monk there called the monk Buhaira. This monk saw a cloud overshadowing the group as they were coming to Deira, so the group entered the monastery. For hospitality, Muhammad remained guarding the caravan, so he asked the monk about this young man who was accompanying them and asked him to enter his monastery, so they introduced him to him. He told his companions to protect this young man, for he had a great importance, as this monk saw in Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, the features of prophecy according to his religious books.