The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

parliament

National parliaments, legislatures, assemblies, or councils exist in virtually all countries worldwide, including in all the approximately 50 Muslim-majority states and territories. Strictly speaking, parliament is a legislative body deriving from the political tradition of the United Kingdom and having a prime minister. However, national legislative or consultative bodies in different institutional settings (e.g., parliamentarianism, presidentialism, semipresidentialism) and political regimes (e.g., democratic and authoritarian) are often referred to as parliaments.

Democratic legislatures have as their primary function to propose, debate, and vote on bills. Authoritarian parliaments may play an advisory role as prescribed in their constitution (e.g., Oman) or may have more robust lawmaking prerogatives, which are limited, in practice, by the executive branch of government (e.g., Algeria).

Origins of Modern Parliaments

Democracy, or “rule by the many,” first emerged in Athens, Greece, in the fifth century BCE. In a city-state, formal equality and self-government were attained through direct democracy—participation of free, adult males in a citizen’s assembly. The impracticality of direct democracy in the large nation-states of 19th-century Europe necessitated the development of representative political institutions.

Parliaments in Authoritarian Countries

Parliamentary bodies vary according to the extent to which they embody the procedures of democracy or polyarchy, a term coined by Robert A. Dahl to mean a system in which the interests of every member of the polity are taken into equal consideration when making binding collective decisions. In Democracy and Its Critics (1989), Dahl describes polyarchy as having seven institutions: elected officials, free and fair elections, inclusive suffrage, the right to run for office, freedom of expression, alternative information, and associational autonomy. Democratic legislatures enjoy influence in policy making and institutional autonomy from the executive branch, are representative, and have the material and human capacity to undertake the complex tasks of lawmaking and oversight. Authoritarian parliaments are weak in comparison to the executive branch. Their members can usually provide particularistic benefits to their constituents but have little power to shape policy independent of the executive.

Emergence and Change in Parliaments in the Muslim World

Legislative bodies emerged in new states following the decolonization of Africa and Asia and have frequently been established by nationalist movements, suggesting that they confer legitimacy to nationalist and revolutionary claims and provide other organizational advantages. The Polisario Front, which contests Moroccan claims to the former Spanish Sahara, established the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and the 101-seat Sahrawi National Council in 1976. The Palestinian National Authority also has a unicameral legislative body, the 132-seat, democratically elected Palestinian Legislative Council, successor to the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s Palestinian National Council, established in 1964. The revolutionary Libyan Republic declared the Interim Transitional National Council on March 5, 2011, at the height of its conflict with Colonel Qaddafi’s forces.

In Legislative Politics in the Arab World (1998), Abdo I. Baaklini, Guilain Denoeux, and Robert Springborg contend that Arab parliaments are not remnants of colonialism. Rather, the Ottoman Empire’s first council emerged during the period of Sultan Selim III (r. 1789–1807), and instances exist in which colonial powers disbanded indigenous parliaments threatening colonial rule. Early republican experiments include the establishment of the first parliament in Egypt in 1866, Iran in 1906, and Iraq in 1922.

Legislative assemblies gained visibility as demands for political reform swept the globe beginning in the 1970s. The Federal National Council (Majlis al-Ittihad al-Watani) of the United Arab Emirates was established as an appointed body in 1971, but pressure from political opposition prompted limited reforms. In 2006, a group of voters consisting of less than 1 percent of the population elected half of the parliament’s 40 members for the first time.

Variation in Parliaments in the Muslim World

Apart from the expression of Islamic principles in constitutional and legal instruments, which frequently refer to parliamentary life as an application of shūrā (consultation), parliaments in the Muslim world do not differ markedly in structure or function from those in other parts of the world. The number of chambers (i.e., bicameral or unicameral) and seats, term length, and electoral or appointment system vary little worldwide. The power of the parliament, however, varies as a function of the level of democracy. The preponderance of weak parliaments in the Muslim world corresponds to the high number of authoritarian regimes in the region.

Parliaments in the Muslim world vary widely in their power vis-à-vis the executive branch of government, as measured by the Parliamentary Powers Index (PPI). On this scale, which ranges between 0 and 1, the weakest parliament in the Muslim world is the Somali Transitional Federal Parliament (PPI = 0), and the strongest is the Turkish Meclis (PPI = 0.78).

Among the world’s weakest, the Saudi Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura) functions in an advisory capacity to the king, who is both the head of the government and the head of state. Expanding the 12-member Consultative National Council established in 1924, the 60-member Majlis was created in 1993, and its membership gradually expanded to 150 appointed members. The Majlis cannot introduce bills, and promulgation of legislation is the sole prerogative of the king, who can disband the parliament at any time. Rather, it discusses proposed legislation before passing it to the parallel Council of Ministers. The Majlis has the power to summon ministers to debates pertaining to their jurisdiction (Article 22, Consultative Council Act).

Among the world’s more powerful parliaments, Turkey’s is part of a tradition of constitutionalism dating back to Ottoman rule. The unicameral Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi (Turkish Grand National Assembly) was established in the 1920s following the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the abolition of the caliphate. Turkey is a secular state, though the Islamist Justice and Development Party won an absolute majority of the seats for the first time in 2002; 18 women were elected to parliament in 1935. The Meclis (Parliament) enjoys the prerogatives and autonomy of a democratic parliament and can propose laws, elect the president, and remove the president and prime minister from office. Unlike many other countries in the region, Turkey does not have a gender quota, though 9.1 percent of the Meclis is made up of women (2007).

Parliaments and Islamic Political Thought

Debate about the role of parliaments in the modern Islamic state centers on the principle of shūrā, which existed as a practice in pre-Islamic Arabia and was used by the early Islamic community. Shūrā means collective decision making on matters of common interest. Two instances of shūrā are recorded in the Qur’an: the first an injunction to Muhammad to consult with his followers (3:159) and the second an exhortation for members of the community to engage in the praiseworthy act of consultation (42:38). Muslim scholars have debated the meaning and role of shūrā in modern Muslim political life. In Tafsir Surat al-Shura (Interpretation of sura 42, The Consultation [1973]), Sayyid Qutb (1906–66) argued that neither a parliament nor popular elections have a place; shūrā is optional and nonbinding consultation between a ruler and members of the elite. Although the caliph may consult with elites in order to achieve a wise and just ruling in keeping with God’s law, he is neither elected by the council nor required to consult with them or take their advice as binding. The Qur’an and the sunna are sufficient sources of law, and no legislative function can be delegated to human beings.

In The Principles of State and Government in Islam (1961), Muhammad Asad (d. 1992) argued that the principles of shūrā, ijtihād (independent reasoning), and ijmā‘ (consensus), along with the Islamic values of justice, equality, and human dignity, are the basis for the application of representative democracy. Like him, Fathi Osman interprets shūrā as obligatory, citing it as an Islamic impetus for popular sovereignty exercised through the free election of a parliament and head of state. A legislature is required to make laws on matters not addressed by the Qur’an and sunna, including modern issues not encountered at the time of the Prophet and those on which jurists disagree, so long as they do not contradict any part of the shari‘a.

See also democracy; elections