MAJLIS. An Arabic term that seems to have been used in pre-Islamic Arabia to indicate either a tribal council or council of tribes, majlis, after the advent of Islam and the foundation of the caliphate, denoted the audience chamber of the caliph and, later on, that of one of the sultans. It also referred to
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LOYA JIRGA. Councils summoned by Afghan rulers over the past century to consolidate their authority and nationalist programs have been called by this term, which means “grand assembly” in Pashtu. Modernist Afghans and historians have attempted to trace loya jirga into the distant past and indigenous tribal custom, but loya jirga differ from tribal jirga
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