As the media debate for and against religious courts continues to rage, a report last week showed at least 85 Sharia tribunals are now operating in the UK.
Some quarters say British law is directly threatened by the creeping tide of radical Sharia.
Sharia courts in the UK are regularly giving advice on issues including marriage and divorce, the report claimed.
Decisions concerning marriages not recognised under English law, polygamy, and disputes regarding children are being made by these Sharia courts, according to the report by the Civitas, a think tank.
The report claimed that there is no clear divide between the functions of imams and the Sharia courts.
‘An imam who conducts a marriage which is not registered and then advises on disputes within that marriage acts in breach of the law and outside the scope of the sharia court’s role,’ Civitas report further claimed.
‘Some of these courts are advising illegal actions,’ Denis MacEoin, a former lecturer in Arabic and Islamic studies who wrote the report is quoted to have said. ‘And others transgress human rights standards.’
Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT), a network of Sharia courts, has been operating in London, Manchester, Bradford, Birmingham and Nuneaton since 2007 under the 1996 Arbitration Act. These make decisions that are legally binding and can be enforced by the English courts, provided they do not conflict with English law and both parties choose to use them.
An MTA spokeswoman was quoted as saying that critics of any use of Islamic law failed to recognise that both parties had to agree to any form of dispute resolution in Britain.
‘The establishment of Muslim Arbitration Tribunals is an important and significant step towards providing the Muslim community with a real opportunity to self determine disputes in accordance with Islamic sacred law,’ a statement from the organisation said.
But the Civitas report claimed that many smaller and often informal courts are making decisions under Sharia law beyond their legal remit.
Pages: 1 2
Read also
