Database: Shurta (Police)

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In modern Arabic, shurta translates to "police", but in the Abbasid period the shurta did not resemble anything like its current equivalent. As an institution, the shurta is traced back to the Umayyad period, in which it is best understood as a type of nightwatch, patrolling the cities of the empire with lanterns similar to this one. Their presence signaled the caliph's commitment to keeping urban centers safe. At the beginning of the eighth century, the shurta's role expanded as they became executors of the caliph's justice: the elite hangmen of the period who could be called upon to enforce capital punishments or to calm dissent.

The shurta was headed by the sahib al-shurta, a man whose authority paralleled that of the muhtasib (market inspector) or the qadi (judge). This position was particularly prominent in the seventh and eighth centuries, when the Umayyad dynasty ruled over the empire. However, as the bureaucracy of the Aobasid Empire expanded, bringing the central state to increasingly distant locations, responsibilities initially given to the shurta began to fall to the army. By the 11th century, the shurta no longer acted as caliphal bodyguards, executioners, or suppressors as they once had.