Sharia courts ‘shouldn’t be outlawed in Britain’
But wedding couples must also have civil ceremony, says report
TENS of thousands of Muslim couples would be forced to have a civil marriage as well as an Islamic ceremony under proposals to curb the powers of secretive Sharia councils.
The registration of weddings in line with UK law would ensure that the tribunals, which work mainly from mosques, do not treat Muslim women as second-class citizens.
The proposal was one of the findings of a government- ordered review which also risked controversy by rejecting calls to ban Sharia councils outright.
The independent review, chaired by Islamic studies expert Mona Siddiqui, said registering Muslim marriages would give women the rights and protections of the courts, meaning that they would face ‘less discriminatory practices’.
The review heard evidence that some Sharia councils were refusing to intervene even though a woman said her husband would deny her a divorce unless she gave him £18,000.
A report yesterday giving the review’s findings suggested the tribunals should be regulated – prompting concerns it would be a first step towards legitimising Islamic law in Britain.
This proposal was immediately dismissed by the Government.
Some councils administering Islamic justice in Britain are run by clerics who believe some offenders should have their hands chopped off, that there can be no rape in marriage, and who fail to protect wives from domestic violence.
But, rejecting the idea that Sharia councils should be banned, the review found that without them Muslim women would be unable to obtain an Islamic divorce meaning they risked being trapped in ‘undesirable and often abusive marriages’.
Theresa May launched the review when she was Home Secretary in 2016 amid concerns Sharia councils were causing damage to Muslim communities.
It followed mounting fears that they were operating a parallel justice system with hard-line views that were being misused or applied in a way that was incompatible with domestic law.
A survey last year found that two-thirds of Muslim women ‘married’ in Britain were not legally wed because their ceremonies were conducted by Sharia coun- cils, meaning they are not entitled to a civil divorce.
Because they only had a traditional Muslim wedding ceremony – the Nikah – but not a civil ceremony, they had no legal protection. In 2015, it was estimated that as many as 100,000 Sharia marriages might exist among the 2.7million Muslims in Britain.
The review heard evidence that the proportion of Muslim couples failing to have a civil marriage was ‘high and increasing’. It found 90 per cent of the work of Sharia councils concerned Islamic divorces.
There were examples of ‘ bad practice’ including men demanding ‘excessive financial concessions’ from their wives in order to secure a divorce. However, it flagged up positive practices, including the reporting of family violence to police. But the review said a ban on Sharia councils was ‘not a viable option’, concluding they were ‘fulfilling a need in some Muslim communities’. Many women, even those legally married, felt it important to obtain a religious divorce so they could ‘move on with their lives’ The report recommended awareness campaigns and educational programmes to inform women of their rights and responsibilities. It added: ‘Cultural change is required within Muslim communities so that communities acknowledge women’s rights in civil law, especially in areas of marriage and divorce.’ Instead, the Government is looking at changing the Marriage Act 1949 to require the registration of Muslim marriages, a duty that falls to the person conducting the ceremony or a registrar.
It would mean civil marriages must be conducted before or at the same time as the Islamic ceremony, bringing the Muslim marriage into line with Christian and Jewish marriage. Simon Calvert, deputy director of the Christian Institute, said: ‘Giving these institutions their own regulator would have granted them formal state recognition, greatly increasing their power over the communities where they operate. This would be quite wrong.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Sharia law has no jurisdiction in the UK. We will consider carefully the review’s findings.’
‘Undesirable marriages’