Background

According to the last census in 2011, the Muslim population in Britain is 2.7 million, making Islam the second-largest religion in the UK, with the majority of Muslims having origins in South Asia, in countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.¹² These migrant communities in Britain strived to maintain elements of family life from their countries of origin, giving them a distinct ethnoreligious iden- tity.¹³ In particular, Muslim family life represents one of the greatest expressions of religious identity; and therefore, Muslims may increasingly feel a need for religious marriage (nikah) and divorce (talaq).¹⁴ Hence, many Muslims will marry and divorce according to the customary laws of their country of origin.¹⁵

In English law legislation such as the Marriage Act 1949 and Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 stipulates the conditions for a legally binding marriage and divorce.

Nikah ceremonies conducted in the UK must comply with the Marriage Act to form a legally valid marriage, i.e. take place in a building registered for the solemnisation of marriages and in the presence of a registrar or an authorised person. Nikah ceremonies that do not comply with the Marriage Act are considered ‘non-marriages’; the couple are treated as cohabitees and do not have the same rights and protections as a married couple, and civil courts do not have the same powers to make financial orders as to when to grant a divorce for the dissolution of a valid marriage.¹⁶ Hence, the concern is that nikah-only marriages leave Muslim women with little security and rights, vulnerable to exploitation within the marriage¹⁷and Muslim women who rely on Shariah Councils may face unfavourable terms when negotiating an Islamic divorce.¹⁸ Others call for an amendment to the law to ensure services offered by imams and Shariah Councils fall within the Marriage Act 1949 and the Equality Act 2010.¹⁹ The Independent Review acknowledged the difficulty in obtaining first-hand accounts of negative experiences of using Shariah Councils²⁰; thus the need for further research to substantiate such claims.

The research referenced in this chapter involved in-depth interviews with British Muslim women and interviews with professionals (i.e. experts) ranging from Shariah Council judges, imams, to solicitors and counsellors, identified as providing services to Muslim women during the marriage, marital disputes and divorce. Shariah Council hearings were observed and their procedural documents analysed. The findings provide a valuable insight into the practice of marriage and divorce among British Muslims and the experience of Shariah Councils. To maintain anonymity, the participants’ identifications have been removed from the data collected and pseudonyms used to replace their real names in reporting the findings.

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Source: Bano Samia (ed.). The Sharia Inquiry, Religious Practice and Muslim Family Law in Britain. Routledge,2023. — 143 p.. 2023

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Background

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