Editing Political aspects of Islam (section)

====Election or appointment====
{{Further|Islam and democracy}}

[[Al-Mawardi]], a Sunnī Muslim jurist of the [[Shafiʽi school|Shāfiʿī school]] of [[Fiqh|Islamic jurisprudence]], wrote that the caliph should be a member of the [[Quraysh (tribe)|Quraysh]] tribe. [[Al-Baqillani|Abu Bakr al-Baqillani]], an [[Ash'ari|Ashʿarī]] Sunnī Muslim scholar and [[Maliki|Mālikī]] jurist, wrote that the leader of the Muslims simply should be elected from the majority. [[Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man]], the founder of the Sunnī [[Hanafi|Ḥanafī school]], also wrote that the leader must come from the majority.<ref name=2muslims>[http://www.2muslims.com/directory/Detailed/225505.shtml Process of Choosing the Leader (Caliph) of the Muslims: The Muslim Khilafa: by Gharm Allah Al-Ghamdy] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707062249/http://www.2muslims.com/directory/Detailed/225505.shtml |date=2011-07-07 }}</ref>

Western scholar of Islam, [[Fred Donner]],<ref>''The Early Islamic Conquests'' (1981)</ref> argues that the standard Arabian practice during the early caliphates was for the prominent men of a kinship group, or tribe, to gather after a leader's death and elect a leader from amongst themselves, although there was no specified procedure for this ''[[shura]]'', or consultative assembly. Candidates were usually from the same lineage as the deceased leader but they were not necessarily his sons. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual direct heir, as there was no basis in the majority Sunnī view that the head of state or governor should be chosen based on lineage alone.