The Council of Notables (Majlis al-Aʿyān) 02

Majlis al-Aʿyān al-Qāfila مجلس أعيان القافلة The Council of the Notables of the Caravan Introduction Among the institutions that sustain the cohesion of Amghar's caravan, none is more important than the Majlis al-Aʿyān al-Qāfila, the Council of the Notables of the Caravan. Composed of twelve representatives drawn from the most established families and economic households of the caravan, the Majlis serves as its principal deliberative body and guardian of internal custom. Its members are not elected in the manner of a popular assembly. Their authority derives from lineage, wealth, reputation, skill, and service to the caravan. A family whose livelihood depends upon the production of salt, the manufacture and trade of cloth, the breeding of camels, the working of metal, the keeping of wells, or another essential occupation may acquire a permanent place among the caravan's notable houses. The institution is therefore neither a parliament nor merely a council of elderly men. It is a corporate assembly of the caravan's leading households, whose authority is rooted in custom and mutual dependence.