Empirical Evidence and Power Imbalances

A common theme among all interviewees approaching Shari’a Coun­cil was that they wanted to choose an egalitarian Islamic justice fo­rum. This is different from some of the previous research carried out because Muslim women are seeking to resolve their disputes in accordance with what they believe to be following egalitarian (gender- just) Islamic principles and, therefore, approach Shari’a Councils for a female scholar.

Initial mediation sessions conducted were based on Islamic princi­ples to avoid marriages breaking up and in the event of reconciliation failing to obtain a divorce. All five participants in the focus group raised the issue of risk assessment or screening process within Shari’a Councils to be improved and explored the possibility if English me­diators and Shari’a Councils can work in partnership. Women aware of MIAMs felt that male scholars disregarded MIAM exemptions. Of the 25 women, 13 were asked to remain in the same room as the perpetrator (husband) in domestic abuse cases for an initial meeting. This has serious repercussions such as further harm to the victim, op­pression and more sensitivity needs to be shown to such victims and the law. These types of sessions are likely to be counterproductive for women if the victim is made to feel uneasy or intimidated as it effec­tively continues the abuse in another way. In understanding women’s narratives, and those of other participants cited above, it is important to place them in both their context of the focus group environment and its aims of participating in Islamic mediation, MIAMs and Eng­lish mediation.

In relation to the five women in the focus group (all were inter­viewed in a group discussion on 1 July 2016), the first participant at­tended MIAM and was referred to the family court and she said, ‘the reason why I attended an Islamic forum is because it is subtle and less intrusive’.

Domestic Abuse 89 justice system is designed to protect women more’ (participant two). The first participant responded and said,

English family justice system can deny justice to women, for ex­ample, refuse legal aid, but with an Islamic system at least the scholars (if females) are willing to provide assistance and inter­pret rulings thorough A’isha’s gender-just [egalitarian approach] (A’isha Bint Abi Bakr was Prophet Muhammad’s wife).

It also revealed that these women prioritised individualised justice that complied with their religious beliefs.

Another participant argued that ‘justice is at the core of the Qur’an and it adopts egalitarian values which are compatible with English law. The West has adopted many of the Islamic egalitarian values much later’ (participant three). A participant responded and said,

if we look at the example of A’isha then we can see how she applied ‘gender just, treated fairly, to be respected equally’ [egalitarian principles] to legal rulings and corrected male scholars such as Abu Hurayra (companion of Prophet Muhammad).

(participant four)

One woman who had attended MIAM session told others that ‘MIAM meeting is just a formality and it doesn’t even bother to con­sider Muslim women’s religious sensitivities. It is simply a process for ticking the boxes and pass you to the family court’ (participant five). This means that Shari’a Councils are fulfilling a need that the family courts are not addressing. It was noted that women hesitated to ap­proach the courts because they considered this to be the last resort and, even then, they wanted to avoid it.

Participants chose to address the patriarchal application of Islamic family law by retrieving the female religious authority characters in Islam such as A’isha Bint Abi Bakr, who applied egalitarian principles from Islam.

consequences of settlement options. However, litigants in person do not have this advantage.

Islamic forum provides an important service for Muslim women seeking an alternative to courts and English mediation. Muslim women prioritised Islamic options and individual outcomes. Female scholars were more conscious to observe English family law because they were able to empathise with the victims and where possible re­ferred women to pursue their cases with English family courts/solic- itors. Shari’a Councils are now semi-recognised by many scholars, practitioners and users as part of the informal justice system for the Muslim community (Bano, 2012). Shari’a Councils have a growing body of users and not just South Asian Muslims but diverse and het­erogenous Muslims approaching them. Therefore, it may be best to reflect on the possible reforms that could make them more effective in delivering a compatible standard of justice within Shari’a Councils by working towards having either a solicitor on the panel or a co­mediation model.