''Shurṭa'' ( ar, شرطة) is the common Arabic term for

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

, although its precise meaning is that of a "picked" or elite force. Bodies termed ''shurṭa'' were established in the early days of the

Caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

, perhaps as early as the caliphate of

Uthman Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic proph ...

(644–656). In the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

and

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

s, the ''shurṭa'' had considerable power, and its head, the ''ṣāḥib al-shurṭa'' ( ar, 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 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. Responsibility fo ...

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. 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, while 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 Islam History of law enforcement Government of the Abbasid Caliphate Government of the Umayyad Caliphate Arabic words and phrases

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