As a youth, Thābit worked as money changer in a marketplace in Harran until meeting Muḥammad ibn Mūsā, the oldest of three mathematicians and astronomers known as the Banū Mūsā. Thābit displayed such exceptional linguistic skills that ibn Mūsā chose him to come to Baghdad to be trained in mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy under the tutelage of the Banū Mūsā. Here, Thābit was introduced to not only a community of scholars but also to those who had significant power and influence in Baghdad.