Masjid-e-Boraasaa is one of the blessed and famous mosques. It is situated between Baghdad and Kazmayn on the route of the pilgrims. Many merits are related for it but pilgrims are deprived of its benefits and they do not accord importance to it. The 600 Hijri historian Hamuyi has written in Majamul Buldaan that Boraasaa was a locality of Baghdad to the south of the Karkh tribe and Baab-e-Mahol was a Jama Masjid where shias used to pray. Later it was turned into a ruin. It is also said that in the reign of the Abbaside Caliph Raazi Billah, shias used to congregate in the Masjid and criticize the Caliph. By the order of Raazi Billah people stormed the mosque, arrested whoever they could and imprisoned them and razed the Masjid to the ground. Shias reported this matter to the ruler of Baghdad Hakim Makaani who ordered that a bigger and a stronger Masjid be built in its place and on its main gate the name of Raazi Billah be inscribed. This masjid always used to be full and prayers were conducted therein but in 400 Hijri its popularity faded and it is like that till now. Before the coming up of Baghdad, Boraasaa was a village. It is thought that when Ali (a.s.) was going to Naharwan to fight the Khawaarij he (a.s.) had passed through here and had recited namaz in this Masjid, and he had also gone into the Public bath of this village. Abu Shuaib Barasi the worshipper is also related to this Masjid. He was the first to settle down in Boraasaa. He used to worship Allah in a hut made of palms. One day a rich man's daughter who was bred in palaces passed that way. When she saw Abu Shuaib in that condition, she liked it and his piety influenced her and she came to him and requested him to accept her as his maid servant. He accepted her on the condition that she would give up all the riches, which she willingly did. So he married her and when she entered his hut for the first time she saw a piece of mat on the ground that Abu Shuaib used to protect himself from the damp of the earth. She said: I cannot stay with you till you remove this mat because I have heard yourself say that the earth says:
(O son of Adam! You keep a curtain between us while one day you have to come into my belly).
Abu Shuaib removed the mat. The girl lived for some years. Both of them used to worship in the best manner till they passed away from this world.
The writer says: we have related some traditions regarding the superiority of this Masjid in our book Hadiyatuz Zaaereen. And it is written that so much fazilat is evident from the traditions that if one of them had been for some other masjid it would have been advisable to undertake journey to it for praying and invocation in it. The first speciality is that Allah has decreed that no chief would ever arrive here with an army except a prophet or his legatee. Secondly, it is the house of Hazrat Maryam (a.s.). It is the land of Isa (a.s.). It is having the water spring that had burst forth for Hazrat Maryam (a.s.). Fifthly, this spring was rediscovered miraculously by Ameerul Momeneen (a.s.). Sixth, it has the white stone on which Hazrat Maryam (a.s.) had laid down Isa (a.s.). Seventh, its miraculous removal by Ameerul Momeneen (a.s.) and its fixing in the direction of the Qibla. Eight, the praying of Ameerul Momeneen (a.s.), Imam Hasan (a.s.) and Imam Husain (a.s.) there. Ninth, due to the holiness of this place, they stayed there for four days. Tenth, the praying of prophets, specially Ibrahim (a.s.) there. Eleventh, the presence of a prophet's grave there, may be it is Prohpet Yusha (a.s.). The Late Shaykh (r.a.) says that his grave is outside Kazmayn in the first gate of Masjid-e-Boraasaa. Twelfth, it is the place where the sun returned for Ali (a.s.). Despite its significance very few people go there, though it is on the way.
