The Barāthā Mosque and its Role in the Crystallisation of the Early Shi'i Thoughts

The present study aims at elucidating the role of the Barāthā Mosque, located in Baghdad, midway between the al-Karkh and the al-Kāẓimiyya neighbourhoods, in early Shi'i thought. Originally a monastery, the site was transformed into a mosque during the reign of the caliph ͑Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib. The mosque is venerated in early and contemporary Twelver Shi'a sources as a blessed space which ͑Alī visited more than once, and in which he performed two miracles. The article discusses the mosque's location, the origin of its name, its history, the religious activities which Shi'is have performed there at various times, the merits ascribed to the site and to staying in it in Shi'i religious tradition. It describes the religious and intellectual activities that take place there and the Shi'i traditionists who dictated their traditions to their students in it. The article shows how Shi'i writers used the merits ascribed to the mosque and the stories around it to connect ancient prophets to Shi'i history, in an attempt to affirm the legitimacy of their creed and to demonstrate its deep roots in history, as a rebuttal to their critics and opponents, and perhaps also as a covert attempt to attract new converts to Shi'ism.