Combined with the term Majlis, مجلس, which refers to a council or legislature, it is meant to indicate a body of individuals who advise, consult or determine.
Majlis al Shura is a commonly used term for elected or co-opted assemblies with advisory or legislative powers in Arabic-speaking or Islamic-majority countries.
Even these conditions are not completely agreed upon, as in the case of the scholar Faiyadh, who wrote that experts in various non-Islamic fields like economics, engineering and medicine are also qualified.
The importance of this is premised by the following verses of the Qur'an: "...those who answer the call of their Lord and establish the prayer, and who conduct their affairs by Shura.
[1] Some modern interpretations of the role of the Majlis ash-Shura include those by Islamist author Sayyid Qutb and by Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani, the founder of a transnational political movement devoted to the revival of the Caliphate.
In effect, removal is only expected in cases of oppression, and the Majlis-ash-Shura is to discreetly inform the Khalifa of his problematic actions beforehand.
Similarly Al-Baghdadi[clarification needed] believed that if the rulers do not uphold justice, the ummah via the majlis should give warning to them, and if unheeded then the Caliph can be impeached.
Rather than just relying on impeachment, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani obliged rebellion upon the people if the caliph began to act with no regard for Islamic law.
[1] The following hadith establishes the principle of rule of law in relation to nepotism and accountability[2] Narrated 'Aisha: The people of Quraish worried about the lady from Bani Makhzum who had committed theft.
"Various Islamic lawyers do however place multiple conditions, and stipulations e.g. the poor cannot be penalised for stealing out of poverty, before executing such a law, making it very difficult to reach such a stage.