The term Shura was mentioned twice in the holy Quran first as a predictive statement: (And those who answer the call of their Lord and establish worship, and whose affairs are a matter of counsel, and who spend of what we have bestowed on them) (Ash-Shura Verse: 38) and second as an imperative statement: (So by mercy from Allah, (O Muhammad), you were lenient with them.
And if you had been rude (in speech) and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah.
Indeed, Allah loves those who rely (upon Him) (Surah Al-Imran Verse 159). Shura (consultation) which apparently stands for expanding consultation based on a specific issue. Sadiq Jawad Sulaiman (died 2021) considers Shura as an absolute principle for consultation that excludes despotism.
The parliamentary councils is an ancient idea that was linked to the democracy of the Greek philosophers and developed with the emergence of the modern state in association with the social contract theory or the political contract as referred to by some philosopher like John Locke (died 1704) who uses this theory to support the constitutional government.
Similarly, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (died 1778) backed the popular sovereignty theory utilising the social contract. He presented his own concept of a democracy based on the people’s sovereignty while rejecting the existence of legislative and executive authorities that are independent of the people.
Sadiq Jawad believes that during the era of enlightenment, discussions revolved around many issues related to governance in which the French aristocratic philosopher Montesquieu (died 1755), took part.
He believed that the powers should be separated while maintaining cooperation between them. This is how the world invented the principle of separation of the legislative, executive, and judicial powers to avoid tyranny. Hence, the parliament initially acquired legislative and oversight powers to enact laws, monitor the executive power, and safeguard public funds in accordance with a clear contractual and constitutional system.
The civil society was formed in the modern state on the contradiction between municipal councils and representative councils.
The municipal councils are concerned with municipal services in terms of its policies, implementation of its programmes, and follow-up of its plans.
As regards the parliaments, they are larger entities because, as we mentioned above, they represent the legislative authority and they monitor the executive authority being an implicit or constitutional contract between the people and the state.
When the modern state was established in Oman in 1970 during the reign of the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said (died 2020), the parliament did not emerge from the outset but there were municipal or service councils and both had something in common. Then the Consultative Council was established on October 18, 1981 out of a partnership between the government and the citizens.
Saud al Harthi says that the members of the Consultative Council were appointed at the beginning. These councils comprised representatives of the government and citizens known for their experience and prudence.
It was more of a municipal council than a consultative council due to the lack of a basic law of the state until 1996 and also because the collective mind was focused on services more than legislations. The Consultative Council transformed into the existing Majlis Ash’shura in 1991 and the first general elections in Oman’s history took place in 2003.
Then the legislature developed to bicameralism i.e the State Council and Majlis Ash’shura under the umbrella of the Council of Oman which possessed enhanced legislative and oversight powers.
Notwithstanding this transformation of the legislature the collective mind maintained its inability to distinguish between the municipal council and the parliament.
Al Harthi says: “The prevailing culture of both citizen and council members links the evaluation of the performance of the members to the service sector and achieving the interests of citizens in their respective wilayat. What citizens expect from the members is nothing more than projects and facilities and solutions to problems and issues pertaining to a group or individual of citizens. Consequently, such issues are embraced by the parliamentarians as electoral propaganda. Hence, the parliament moves away from its real parliamentary work which is the legislative and oversight field.”
The collective mind needs to realise that the parliamentary work (Shura) is based on the philosophy of the parliament itself being the decision-maker by virtue of its legislative power and its role in monitoring the government and holding it accountable and preserving public money.
It is crucial, in my opinion, that the candidature for the Shura elections be linked to a broader circle than that of the municipal council’s thus allowing more competition based on the parliamentary philosophy rather than the regional municipal services which is confined to the level of the wilayat.
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