The Social Function of Emigration in Establishment of Qom City-State and its Effect in Spread of Shiism up to the Fourth Century

The efforts of the Shiite movement up to the fourth century faced a relatively welcomed trend in the eastern geography of the Islamic caliphate (i.e. Iran). Continuation of the emigration of Alawid Sayyids to various regions of that land and the presence of the Shiite masses, scholars and influential figures prepared the ground for the Shiite political-social infiltration, and their movement gradually emerged in various forms of actions such as wars, riots, invitations and formation of the state. The subject of this study is investigating the effect of emigration as an important factor in spreading and alteration of the destination’s population. The emigration generated a new identity with cultural compatibility, and one of its innovative achievements was formation of the first Shiite city-state of Qom in the early centuries AH as a unit independent from the dominant Abbasid court and denomination. This study considers the social function of emigration as an independent variable effective in spread of the emigrants’ ideology, and concludes – with some investigation – that within the framework of Anthony Giddens’ theory and in the framework of ‘melting furnace’ model, the phenomenon of emigration had an amazing social effect in creating the new identity of Qom city. Finally, the Shiites’ dominance in that city fixed, due to the mutual social actions resulted from the early interaction and acculturation, the political dominance for three decades of governance in that region.