The Abbasids shifted the Caliphate from Damascus to Baghdad (capital of modem Iraq). For the next 150 years, the empire under the Abbasids emerged as one of the most powerful, prosperous and enlightened regions in the world. The absorbed and assimilated the best of what other cultures and civilizations had to offer in terms of ideas, skills and scientific knowledge. Muhammad had advised the to pursue learning. One of the Abbasid Caliphs established a House of Wisdom at Baghdad to translate into Arabic the collective wisdom of various ancient civilizations such as the Greek, Byzantine, Egyptian, ***, Indian and Persian civilizations. Baghdad became the repository and preserve of the rich cultural heritage of the ancient world.
