Abstract
The excavation of small hamlets and farmhouses at Rahat, in the northern Negev, uncovered two modest mosques, each measuring around 6 × 5 m and including a prayer niche (miḥrab) that protrudes from their southern wall toward Mecca. Dating to the Umayyad and early Abbasid periods, the structures constitute the first rural mosques in the northern Negev. While mosques were a familiar feature in contemporary cities, they scarcely appear in the countryside, where Islam spread out in a gradual, drawn-out process. The discovery of the Rahat mosques indicates that Islam reached this part of the countryside rather early. The question remains as to who were its inhabitants: a Muslim population that came from elsewhere, or local Christians or pagans who converted to Islam?
Recommended Citation
Seligman, Jon
(2023)
"المساجد المبكرة والمزرعة من رهط وأسلمة المناطق الريفية / Early Mosques and a Farmhouse in Rahat and the Islamization of the Countryside,"
Cornerstone: Journal of Archaeological Sites (حجر الزاوية): Vol. 12, Article 9.
Available at:
https://publications.iaa.org.il/cornerstone/vol12/iss1/9
