''Shurṭa'' () is the common

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

term for

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

. Its literal meaning is that of a "picked" or elite force. The ''shurṭa'' or police force were established in the early days of the

Caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

, perhaps as early as the caliphate of Uthman (644–656). In the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

and the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

s, the ''shurṭa'' had considerable power, and its head, the ''ṣāḥib al-shurṭa'' (), was an important official, whether at the provincial level or in the central government. The duties of the ''shurṭa'' varied with time and place: it was primarily a police or the secret police and

internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other Self-governance, self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. This task and rol ...

force and also had judicial functions, but it could also be entrusted with suppressing brigandage, enforcing the '' ḥisbah'', customs and tax duties, rubbish collection, acting as a bodyguard for governors, etc. In the Abbasid East, the chief of police also supervised the prison system. ''Shurṭa'' is one of the

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

agencies and officials of the Abbasid caliphs which was headquartered in Baghdad in the 8th and 9th centuries. From the

10th century The 10th century was the period from 901 (represented by the Roman numerals CMI) through 1000 (M) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the last century of the 1st millennium. In China, the Song dynasty was established, with most of C ...

, the importance of the ''shurṭa'' declined, along with the power of the central government: the army, now dominated by foreign military castes ('' ghilmān'' or '' mamālīk''), assumed the internal security role, and the cities regained a measure of self-government and appropriated the more local tasks of the ''shurṭa'' such as that of the night watch.

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* {{EI2 , volume=9 , title=S̲h̲urṭa , first = J.S. , last = Nielsen , page = 510 , url = http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_1065 History of law enforcement Government of the Abbasid Caliphate Government of the Umayyad Caliphate Arabic words and phrases

See also

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