These councils seem to have had two fundamental roles: the first was to maintain the Ansar and their obedience and compliance. This is why their composition was from different tribes, and their members had "pledged loyalty and generosity that inspired them to listen to the rest of their common people and obey them." The second was to offer opinions on the policy of the new community and to deliberate on its problems, in descending order of the importance of the issue at hand. Thus, the Mahdi and his companions (when dealing with major matters, they would meet in private, with no one else present except them. When a less important matter arose, they would bring fifty people. If it was even less important, they would bring a hundred. If it was of the lowest importance, they would bring all those who had joined his cause, and none would be absent from those who had joined his cause). Attached to these councils was another council called Ahl al-Dar, who were responsible for serving the Mahdi and attending to his affairs at all times. As for the rest of the Ansar, the Mahdi organized them into categories, sometimes based on tribes and sometimes based on professions, such as: the category of students, the category of guardians, who were the people of the Ansar, and the people of the tribes, the category of soldiers, the category of raiders, and the archers. Each of these categories had its own leader. This was for the sake of greater discipline and obedience. Its simplicity met the three basic demands: the political and military for the Mahdi. A political apparatus that decides destiny, an educational apparatus that preserves and deepens principles, and a military apparatus that protects the emerging community and works for its growth and expansion. Ibn al-Mukhtib alluded to this meaning when he mentioned the roles assigned to each category, saying: "The people of the community are for deliberation." Ibn al-Qattan, Nazm al-Juman: (29) Same source and page (30) See: Same source: (31) See: Boroujerdi, Ibn Tumart: (32) and onwards. 117