Baghdad women visit Baratha Mosque on final Wednesday of Safer

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Hundreds of women visited the historic Baratha Mosque in Baghdad on the final Wednesday of the Islamic month of Safer, offering prayers and making personal requests, according to local reporting. The visitors continued the traditional ritual at the mosque's water spring and historic rock, located in the Aythafiya area on the Karkh side of the capital. Groups were admitted in batches due to the heavy turnout that began in the early morning hours. Umm Yahya, 40, said she comes to the mosque every year with her daughters and relatives to perform a special prayer for difficult wishes to be granted. She added that families seek a cure for children's speech difficulties by passing them through the spring and the rock. Umm Ibrahim, 60, said she made wishes at the rock and that several of her requests, including the marriages of her two daughters, had come true. The visit on the last Wednesday of Safer is a long-standing part of Baghdad's religious and folk traditions. According to traditional accounts, the Baratha Mosque site dates to the pre-Islamic period, when the structure was known as a monastery. The accounts say Imam Ali offered prayers there and opened the water spring on his return from the Battle of Nahrawan.