The Emigration of Scientists from Damascus to Baghdad in the early Abbasi Time: Its Reasons and effects

Abstract

The emigration of scientists is one of the phenomena that has a deep effect in building knowledge and transferring it throughout Ages. The emigration of scientists of Damascus to Baghdad during the early Abbasi time was an important stage in the history of Islamic thought. It can^’t be understood just as mere movement of individuals from one city to another, or it can^’t be described as a direct result of the shift of the center of caliphate from Umayyad rule to Abbasi rule. However, it should be viewed as compound civilized phenomenon, and structural change in the center of knowledge production within the Arab Islamic Civilization. This emigration wasn^’t a result of single factor but it was a result of a group of complicated political, economic, scientific and social reasons, which forced the Damascene scientists to look for a new environment that contains all the requirements of scientific production and stability. When Damascus lost the court and the center of caliphate, that led to reduce chances of official care for scientists and thinkers. Meanwhile, Baghdad became center of attraction of science that exceeded other Arab and Islamic Capitals at that time.

So, the elite scientists moved from the old city to the new one, they brought with them traditions of writing, styles of poetry and administrative experiences and various other sciences. This emigration led to establishment of political legitimacy of the Abbasi state and developed it administrative system. It contributed to enrich the scientific environment of Baghdad city and expanded the scope of scientific research and transferred the civilized experiment of Damascus to the Abbasi capital (Baghdad). This led to a great social movement within the Abbasi society which raised the position of scientists. In spite of all these circumstances. Damascus kept its scientific and cultural position and remained a base of the language, literature, medicine and calligraphy benefiting from past experiences of a whole century of the Umayyad administration.