The Theopolitical Impact of Shīʿī Narrations on Migrations from Kūfa to Qom in the Early Hijri Period

Throughout history, people have engaged in migration for various political, religious, economic, and social reasons. These migrations, which also occurred in the early centuries of Islam, provide important data about the political, sectarian, and cultural structures of the places left behind and newly settled. It is evident that the population movements observed across Islamic lands were not merely demographic shifts; rather, they produced multifaceted outcomes such as the formation of scholarly circles, the consolidation of sectarian identities, and the reshaping of local social structures. The traditions, bodies of knowledge, and social networks carried by migrating groups became decisive factors in the construction of the religious and cultural identities of the regions to which they relocated. In this context, it is noteworthy that migrations took place from Kūfa, founded by Caliph ʿUmar and distinguished by its Shiʿi identity, to Qom, which, despite having been incorporated into Islamic lands towards the end of the first century AH, quickly became known for its sectarian identity. This research aims to examine the political and sectarian motives behind these migrations from Kūfa to Qom from a theopolitical perspective. This study aims to analyze the decisive role played by population movements occurring particularly between the 2nd and 3rd centuries AH in the transformation of Qom’s socio-religious structure, and to demonstrate how these migrations laid the groundwork for the formation of a Shi‘i identity in the city, its diffusion among the broader society, and Qom’s emergence as an intellectual center.The study analyzed narratives from hadith, tabaqāt, and rijāl sources as its methodology; the imams' encouragement of migration to Qom, the pressures during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, and the sectarian justifications for migration were evaluated in terms of their content and context. Furthermore, within a historical-sociological framework, the impact of migration on the construction of Qom's identity was examined, and the transmission of narrations within the aforementioned sources was addressed in a comparative manner. Moreover, this analysis demonstrates how these processes transformed local social dynamics and elucidates the role they played in Qom’s development into a center of scholarly and sectarian authority. The results of this research show that migrations from Kūfa to Qom were directly related to political events and, in particular, sectarian affiliations. In the Imamī sources, the sanctification of Qom, the praise of its people and the portrayal of it as a refuge in times of discord were decisive in the legitimization of the migration. Qom rapidly became known as a center of Shiʿi identity thanks to the Shiʿi traditionists and scholars who maintained close ties with the Imams. Moreover, the burial of the Imams’ relatives—most notably Fāṭima Maʿṣūma (d. 201/816), the sister of the eighth Imam, Ali al-Riḍā (d. 203/818)—further consolidated the city’s place in Shiite history. Therefore, this study reveals that migration and narrations functioned as a systematic means of steering in Qom's early Shiite formative process.