The Shura We have seen how in the Pre-Islamic days the chief of a clan or tribe had to make his decision in a Council of Elders of the clan or tribe; how during the Pious Caliphate, the Caliphs convinced the Shura to discuss and decide important questions of the State; again we have noticed’ how Umar II attempted to revise the institution when he acted as the Governor of al-Hijaz. All along it was recognized in theory that the Caliph should consult his subjects through a selected few in all matters of administration. But nothing definite could be done under the Umayyads. Of course, the leading members of the Umayyad family formed a sort of council of the Caliph. Under the early Abbasids, the members of the royal family and the members of those families which were faithful to the dynasty like the Mahanids and the Barmakids were often consulted by the rulers. Ma’mun was the first Caliph to constitute a regular Council of State representing every community which owed allegiance to him. These representatives enjoyed perfect freedom in the expression of their opinions and were not hampered in their discussions. This council was continued under the later Caliphs also, and when the empire broke up into principalities, each prince had a council of his own in imitation of the Caliph’s council.2
Administrative Structure Under the Abbasids 579
” Muhammad Arshad. P 150
