Shurṭa (Arabic: شرطة) is the common Arabic term for police. 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, perhaps as early as the caliphate of Uthman (644–656). In the Umayyad and the Abbasid Caliphates, the shurṭa had considerable power, and its head, the ṣāḥib al-shurṭa (Arabic: صاحب الشرطة), 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 and internal security 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 agencies and officials of the Abbasid caliphs which was headquartered in Baghdad in the 8th and 9th centuries.[1]
From the 10th century, 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.
shurta, this, article, about, arabic, word, iraqi, football, club, shorta, other, football, clubs, shorta, disambiguation, shurṭa, arabic, شرطة, common, arabic, term, police, literal, meaning, that, picked, elite, force, shurṭa, police, force, were, establishe. This article is about the Arabic word For the Iraqi football club see Al Shorta SC For other football clubs see Al Shorta disambiguation Shurṭa Arabic شرطة is the common Arabic term for police 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 perhaps as early as the caliphate of Uthman 644 656 In the Umayyad and the Abbasid Caliphates the shurṭa had considerable power and its head the ṣaḥib al shurṭa Arabic صاحب الشرطة 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 and internal security 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 agencies and officials of the Abbasid caliphs which was headquartered in Baghdad in the 8th and 9th centuries 1 From the 10th century the importance of the shurṭa declined along with the power of the central government the army now dominated by foreign military castes ghilman or mamalik 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 See also editQadi MazalimReferences edit Tillier Mathieu 2008 Prisons et autorites urbaines sous les Abbassides Arabica 55 3 387 408 doi 10 1163 157005808x347462 ISSN 0570 5398 Sources editNielsen J S 1997 S h urṭa In Bosworth C E van Donzel E Heinrichs W P amp Lecomte G eds The Encyclopaedia of Islam Second Edition Volume IX San Sze Leiden E J Brill p 510 ISBN 978 90 04 10422 8 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Shurta amp oldid 1213256876, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
