Distinguishing Legislative Authority from Consultative Parliament in Islam

The present paper distinguishes between Legislative Authority (LA) and Consultative Parliament (CP) in Islam. It shows that, for outstanding scholars Mujtahideen, LA observes Islamic law based on the Qur’an and Sunnah. However, CP hinges on exchanging points of view by Members of Parliament who represent the Umma with a view to reaching the most suitable statutes that are of non-legislative nature. The paper also explores the status quo of LA and CP in Islam in the era Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) and Rashideen Caliphate era. It concludes that the most applicable system for Islamic laws is to form the General Shura Council that may consist of two councils, namely, LA Council, and the CP Council. The impact of the distinction between the two councils made by Islam has been applied to participating in a parliament in a non-Islamic government. Accordingly, the Islamic laws allow such participation with proviso that the Member of Parliament should not participate in passing legislations that contradicts with Islam, such as accountability, observation, calling for good deeds and avoiding bad deeds, and so on so forth.