Migration of Shī？ī Scholars to Safavid Iran According to The Western Researchers

In the West research on the migration of scholars to the Safavid Iran which began with the E. G. Browne’s studies has been increasing lately. According to the majority of the researchers, the Safavids invited the Imāmi scholars from Iraq, Jabal ‘āmil and Bahrain regions to Iran to help them. The Arab Imāmi scholars living under the Sunni administrations accepted the invitation because of different persecutions they were exposed to. Nowadays, Rula Abisaab is the main advocate of this thesis which although, was first established by Browne. Whereas, Andrew J. Newman opposes the majority of the Western researchers on the subject matter. According to Newman, the immigration of ‘āmili scholar to the Safavid Iran is not as exaggerated. And the Sunni administrations in the region did not persecute the Imami scholars, as such many of them preferred staying in their homeland to going to the Safavid Iran. Researchers such as Kathryn Babayan and Jean Calmard also accepted Newman’s thesis. The researchers who advocate both theses, despite using the same data in the course of studies, the topic is examined from different perspectives. The aim of this study is to examine the approaches of the Western researchers on the subject matters such as the reasons for the migration of the scholars to the Safavid Iran, which region they migrated from and the tasks they undertook in the administration