shūrā

▪ Islam

      (Arabic: “consultation”), in early Islāmic history, the board of electors that was constituted by the second caliph (head of the Muslim community), ʿUmar I (634–644), to elect his successor. Thereafter, in Muslim states, shūrā variously designated a council of state, or advisers to the sovereign, a parliament (in modern times), and—in certain Arab states—a court of law with jurisdiction over claims made by citizens and public officials against the government. The word shūrā provides the title of the 42nd chapter of the Qurʾān, in which believers are exhorted to conduct their affairs “by mutual consultation.”

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