Khirbat al-Minya, also spelled Khirbet el-Minya, was likely built during the reign of the Umayyad caliphal-Walid I (705-715 CE) and an inscription on a stone found at the site mentions his name. The supposed patron of the palace was al-Walid’s son, Umar ibn al-Walid, who served as the governor of Tiberias during his father’s reign, but fell out of favour when his uncle Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik became caliph in 715. This makes the palace’s mosque one of the earliest to be built in Israel.
There is evidence that the palace was in use until at least the end of the Umayyad period in 750 CE. A strong earthquake hit the region, probably in 749. This damaged the building, causing a rift to run through the eastern wing, going straight through the mosque’s mihrab.
