Tim Dieppe comments on a statement in Parliament this week about the operation of sharia courts
Sarah Sackman MP, The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, responded to a topical question in the House of Commons this week from Reform MP Sarah Pochin. Pochin asked:
“Does the new Secretary of State for Justice recognise sharia law and sharia courts in the United Kingdom—yes or no?”
Sackman replied:
“Sharia law forms no part of the law of England and Wales, but where people choose to put themselves before those councils—in common with Christian, Jewish and other courts of faith—that is part of religious tolerance which is an important British value.”
This appears to be the first time that the government has claimed that sharia courts are compatible with British values. It is an astonishing and outrageous claim. Sharia law discriminates against both women and non-Muslims, allows polygamy, and is fundamentally incompatible with English law and British values. Tolerance of those we disagree with does not extend to allowing them to set up a parallel legal system operating on values entirely contrary to our own.
It is estimated that there are around 85 sharia courts operating in Britain. There is no register of such courts, so no-one knows the true number. The UK is now described as the ‘western capital’ for sharia courts as Muslims increasingly turn to them to resolve disputes. This has created a parallel legal system and de-facto two-tier justice right here in the UK.
Advert for Sharia Law Administrator
This comes after a government website last month advertised a job for a “Sharia Law Administrator”. The advert was taken down after public outrage but is archived here. Applicants were required to have a “Diploma/Degree in Sharia Law” and “Previous working experience in Sharia Law related fields and/or Sharia Courts in Muslim countries.”
My colleague Carys Moseley exposed how this advert come from Didsbury Mosque which has previously been warned by the Charity Commission for the operation of its Sharia Council. It was warned to tell people that its sharia council decisions are not legally binding. It appears therefore that the sharia council was misleading people into believing that its decisions reflected, or even enforced, the law of the land.
‘Christian courts’
There are not ‘Christian courts’ as Sackman claimed, adjudicating disputes between Christians as a parallel system of law. Sackman may have Ecclesiastical Courts in mind which “apply the law of the land as it concerns the church.” They are nothing like a separate legal system operating under an entirely different set of laws.
‘Jewish courts’
As for ‘Jewish courts’, some Jews do use the Beth Din for religious rulings. As a report by The Centre for Social Cohesion in 2009 explained:
“Religious rulings and services provided by the Beth Din are voluntary and limited to an individual‘s private status – a religious divorce overseen by the Beth Din, for example, does not affect the individuals’ legal status. However, individuals do have the right to consult religious figures on personal matters, including ancillary relief and childcare provisions resulting from divorce. In the UK, family law can only be decided on by a family law court: the outcome of mediation by religious figures can be used as a basis for discussion in a family court, but is always subject to the authority of the court.”
Crucially, Jewish marriages conducted in synagogues in the UK are registered with the state, thus providing both parties with legal protection if there is a divorce, death or separation of the partners. This is in sharp contrast with Islamic marriages, many of which are not registered under UK law.
Unregistered Islamic marriages
In fact, it is estimated that as many as 100,000 Islamic marriages in the UK. A Channel 4 survey in 2017 found that 66% of Muslim women who had had an Islamic marriage had not had a civil ceremony, meaning that their marriages are not recognised in English law. Of these, 28% thought that they were legally married. In Manchester alone, only 25 of 67 Mosques are registered for marriages. Didsbury Mosque is not one of them.
Where an Islamic marriage is not registered, the woman has no legal protection if her husband divorces her, or dies, or abandons her. Her only resort is to appeal to a sharia court. If the woman wants to divorce her husband because of abuse, again in the case of an unregistered sharia marriage, her only resort is to a sharia court. Since Islamic law allows polygamy, a woman could find herself with no protection if her husband acquires an additional bride. A British mobile phone app for Muslims to create Islamic wills asks users in England and Wales “How many wives do you have?” with options from one to four. The app gives daughters half as much inheritance as sons, in accordance with Islamic law.
Abuse of women in Islamic law
The founder of the most prominent sharia court in this country is Haitham al-Haddad. He has said that: “A man should not be questioned why he hit his wife because this is something between them. Leave them alone. They can sort out their matters among themselves.” This fits with the teaching of the Qu’ran which says:
“Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great.” (Q 4:34 Pickthall translation)
In another case, The Times reports that an elder in a sharia court suggested to a woman that she should enter into an Islam-sanctioned ‘pleasure marriage’. This would be a Mut’ah marriage, from the Arabic word for ‘pleasure’, which allows couples to have sex and then part. Not all Muslims agree with this practice, but many do. There is an Islamic explanation of it here. The BBC reported in 2013 that Muslims were reviving these temporary marriages.
Another arrangement is the Islamic practice of Halala whereby a woman who has been divorced by her husband must marry another man and consummate that marriage and then be divorced by the second man in order to remarry her former husband. A BBC investigation in 2017 found online services charging divorced Muslim women thousands of pounds to have sham marriages of this nature.
Require registration of Islamic marriages
Christian Concern has long supported a straightforward solution to this problem: require Islamic marriages to be registered. This would then give the women legal rights if their husband divorces them, leaves them, or dies. It would also put a swift end to polygamous marriages.
The government-commissioned independent review into sharia courts by Professor Mona Siddiqui found in 2018 that over 90% of those using sharia courts are women seeking an Islamic divorce. It also found evidence that “the percentage of Muslim couples failing to have a civil marriage is high and increasing.” It recommended that Muslim couples should be legally required to register their marriages. Additionally, in 2019, the Council of Europe called on the UK government make it a legal requirement for Muslim couples to civilly register their marriages. The Council also made clear that: “the institution of Sharia law and a theocratic regime were incompatible with the requirements of a democratic society”, and that sharia law conflicts with human rights in multiple ways.
The government should act
If Islamic marriages were legally registered this could remove as much as 90% of the business of sharia courts thus effectively putting them out of action. So far, no government has been prepared to take this simple action.
Instead, we now have a government that claims that allowing sharia courts to operate in this country is in line with British values. This would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. It demonstrates that this government is happy with two-tier law and even prepared to justify it.
The Biblical principle is one law for all. Exodus 12:49 states:
“The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.”
There is no place for parallel legal systems or two-tier justice.
For the sake of Muslim women, many of whom suffer injustice in these sharia courts, we should not be ‘tolerating’ their operation. We will continue to campaign against the operation of sharia law in any form in this county.
