Policy Recommendations

British Muslim women do not need saving. They need solutions. A system that leaves the most vulnerable subject to abuse and discrimi­nation is not a fair system. This is the system we see today in Britain and the state is yet to fulfil its obligation to protect the most vulnerable

Womewawd Shaa law 51 in society.

I suggest that the UK government consider six policy recommen­dations to address the problems that women endure when they turn to shari’a courts within the framework of the UK legal system. These recommendations are also very important and relevant to other Euro­pean and North American countries.

1 Amend current legislation to make mandatory the registration of all religious marriages in the UK, in line with the proposals of the Marriage Act 1949 (Amendment) Bill.⁶³

2 Launch a nationwide campaign to register all Islamic marriages. This will ultimately reveal many polygamous marriages. The women who are parties to these marriages, and their children, should be protected. But that protection should not entail recog­nising polygamy as a form of marriage.

3 Be consequent in the application of laws prohibiting polygamy/ bigamy.

4 Attach to the British court system a unit (with local branches na­tionwide) that are authorised to automatically issues an Islamic divorce after the civil divorce has been issued: a decree absolute. In many Islamic countries, the religious authorities recognise a civil divorce as religiously valid; the situation should be the same in the UK.

5 Launch a nationwide campaign that reaches women within closed communities to inform them about their rights, the importance and protection of civil marriage, the need to register their mar­riage, and how the law functions in the UK.

6 Abolish the parallel religious legal systems in the UK, and treat citizens and migrants as equal before the law.

Notes

1 Gordon Woodman, “The Idea of Legal Pluralism”, in Baudoiun Dupret, Maurits Berger and Laila al-Zawini (eds), Legal Pluralism in the Arab World, (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1999), p. 4.

2 PrakashShah-, Legal Pluralism in Convict: Coping with c^^ll^^ι^al Diver­sity in Law, (London: Glasshouse Press, 2005), p. ix.

3 Denis MacEoin, “Shari’a Law Or ‘One Law for All’?”, David G. Green (ed.), Sharia Law or ‘One Law for All’? Institute for the Study of Civil Society, (London: CIVITAS, 2009), pp. 9-127; John Rawls, A Theory of

Justice, Revised Edition, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005); Ronald Dworkin, Law’s Empire, (Cam­bridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986); Ihsan YLLmaz, Muslim Laws, Politics and Society in Modern Nations States-. D^inamiic Legal Pluralism in England, I^١^k^e^١i ^^d Pakistan, L-ng,Land: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2005); Werner Menski, Comparative Law in a Glottal Context: Tie Legal Systems of Asia ^^d Africa, Second EdL- tion, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006); Dupret, Berger and al-Zawini (eds), Legal Pluralism in the Arab World; Michael Kemper und Maurus Reinkowski (Hg.), Rechtspluralismus in der islamischen Welt-. GewohnheitsrechtzwischenStaat undGeselschaftBerdm: WaE ter de Gruyter, 2005).

4 For more information on this discourse please see Wolfgang Kashuba, “Wie Fremde gemacht werden”, Der Tagesspiegel, (14 January 2007),, accessed 20 April 2010; Wolfgang Kaschuba, “Ethnische Parallelgesllschaften?: Zur kulturellen Kon- struktion des Fremden in der europaischen Migration”, Zeitschrift fur Volkskunde 1 (2007), pp. 65-85; Bernhard Heininger, Ehrenmord Itnd Emanzipation-. Die Geschlechterfrage in Ritualen von ParaEeIge- sellschaften, (Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2009); Werner Schiffauer, Parallelge- sellschaften, (Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2008).

5 Colin Brown, “Let Us Adopt Islamic Family Law to Curb Extremists, Muslims Tell Kelly”, The Independent, (15 August 2006), available at, accessed 15 July 2015.

6 Ihsan Yhmaz., Muslim Laws, Politics ^^d Society in Modern Nation States--DxnamicLegaIPliuraIisminEngliand, TurkexandPakistan, Sut- rey: Ashgate Publishing, 2005), p. 2.

7 See Ralph Grillo,Roger Ballard, Alessandro Ferrari, Andre J. Hoekema, Marcel Maussen and Prakash Shah(eds), Legal Practice and Cultural Di­versity, (Surrey: Ashgate, 2009); John Griffiths, “What Is Legal Plural­ism?” The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 18(24) (1986), pp. 1--5; Ihsan Yilmaz, “The Challenge of Post-Modern Legality and Muslim Legal Pluralism in England”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 28 (2) (April 2002), pp. 343-354; Yilmaz, Muslim Laws; Dupret, Berger and al-Zwaini (eds), Legal Pluralism in the Arab World; Kemper and ReLnkowsksLfcds), Rechtspluralismusinderislamischen Welt.

8 Grillo et al. (eds), pp. 2526.

9 Jack Donnelly, “Cultural Relativism and Universal Human Rights”, Human Rights Quarterly vi(4) (November 1984), p. 401.

10 Ibid.

11 For more information on the actual experience with legal pluralism in non-Western countries see chapter three in Elham Manea, Women and Shari’a Law: The Impact of Legal Pluralism in the LIR, London: LB, Tauris, 2016), pp. 54-89.

12 Lorenzo Divino, The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), p. 115; Office for National Statistics (ONS), “FOI Request: Statistics of the Muslim Population in the UK for 2011, 2012, 2013”, (London: ONS, 16 May 2013).

N. N., “Europe’s Growing Muslim Population”, (29 November 2017), Pew Research Center,.

For more information on the work of Shari’a Councils, see Samia Bono, MuslimWomenandSlaial Councils: Transcending the Boundaries of Community and Law, (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).

See Manea, Women and Sharia Law, 2016.

Salma Dean, interview by author, London: House of Lords, (9 August 2013); Charlotte Proudman, interview by author, London, (17 January 2013).

Bano, Muslim Women and Shari’ah Councils, p. 186; Sonia Nurin Shah-Kazemi, “Untying the Knot: Muslim Women, Divorce and the Sha­riah”, Nuffield Foundation, (London: Nuffield Foundation, 2001), p. 48. Charlotte Proudman, interview, January 2013.

“The Truth about Islamic Marriage”, Channel 4, 18:00; “New Chan­nel 4 Survey Reveals the Truth about Muslim Marriage”, Channel 4, (20 November 2017), available at. The Survey’s

Data were tabulated by ICM analysed from the responses of 923 par­ticipants from 14 cities across Britain - Glasgow, Newcastle, Preston, Bradford, Stockport, Manchester, Stoke on Trent, Leicester, Birming­ham, Oxford, Cardiff, London, Bristol, Gloucester and Cambridge. The survey targeted women who had been married in the UK. In terms of age and ethnicity, the sample reflects what is known about the British Muslim population.

Emma Webb, “Fallen through the Cracks: Unregistered Islamic Mar­riages in England and Wales, and the Future of Legislative Reform”, In­stitute for the Study of Civil Society, (London: Civitas, August 2020), p. 5, available at, accessed 25 August 2020.

Cassandra Balchin, “Registering Muslim Marriages”, (London: Critical Muslim website, 2011), available at, accessed 9 July 2015.

Field work in the UK in January and August 2013. See also Balchin, “Registering Muslim Marriages”; Divya Talwa, “Wedding Trouble as UK Muslim Marriages Not Recognised”, BBC News, (3 February 2010), available at ac­cessed 9 July 2015.

Shah-Kazemi, “Untying the Knot”, p. 31.

Bano, Muslim WomenandShariah Councils, ppi, 160-166-.

Talwa, “Wedding Trouble”; on polygamous marriages in the UK also see Linda Serck, “Polygamy in Islam: The Women Victims of Multiple Mar­riage”, BBC News, (1 June 2012), available at, accessed 9 July 2015.

Balchin, “Registering Muslim Marriages”.

Sister Sabah, interview by author, 23 January 2013.

Birmingham Mosque Trust (BMT), “Islamic Divorce (Khula) Procedure”, (Birmingham: Birmingham Mosque Trust, 2015), available at, accessed 9 July 2015.

Sheikh Mohammad Talha Bokhari, interview by author, Birmingham, (23 January 2013).

Dr Mohammad Shahoot Kharfan, interview by author, London, (22 Jan­uary 2013).

Salim Leham, interview by author, London, (18 January 2013).

Sheikh Dr Suhaib Hasan, interview by author, London, (28 January 2013).

Bano, Muslim Women and Shari’ah Councils, p. 186; Shah-Kazemi, “Untying the Knot”, p. 34.

Shah-Kazemi, “Untying the Knot”, p. 35.

Banc,, MlimWomenandShariahCouncils, ppi. 210-212..

Ibid., p. 213.

Ibid.

Charlotte Rachael Proudman, Equal and Free? Evidence in Support of Baroness Cox’s Arbitration and Mediation Services (,Equalitl) Bill, (London: House of Lords, May 2012), pp. 11-39.

Quoted in Ibid., p. 33.

Quoted in Ibid., p. 29.

Haitham al-Haddad, “Fatwa: A Civil Divorce Is Not a Valid Religious Divorce”, Islam21c.com, (21 July 2010), available at, accessed 9 July 2015.

Sohail Akbar Warraich and Cassandra Balchin, “Recognizing the Un-recognized: Inter-country Cases and Muslim Marriages & Divorces in Britain”, Women Living Under Muslim Laws, (London: Women Liv­ing Under Muslim Laws, 2006), p. 3.

Rashad Ali, “Islam, ‘Shari’ah Courts, Islamisation and the Far-Right’”, Democratiya 16 (Spring/Summer 2009), pp. 47-48. It is worth mention­ing that even the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) - an affiliate of the global Muslim Brothers - reluctantly issued a religious decision acknowledging the validity of a divorce issued by a non-Muslim. ECFR, Fifth Regular Session, (4-7 May, Dublin, 2000). Available at, accessed 9 July 2015.

Sheikh Mohammad Talha Bokhari, interview by author, Birmingham, (23 January 2013).

Majid Khadduri, “Human Rights in Islam”, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 243 (January 1946), p. 79.

‘Abdallah Afimad An-Na'im, Toward an Islamic Reformation : Civil Liberties, Rights, ^^d International Law, (Syracuse, NY-. Syta-

cuse University Press, 2005), p. 171.

Ahmed Shukri, Muhammedan Law of Marriage and Divorce, (New York: Ams Press, 1996), p.

Ibid.

Yemen’s Family Law No. 20, 1992 states in Article 1: ‘Marriage is a union between the couple by a legal charter; it gives the man legal permission to access the woman (sexually), and together they establish a family based on good companionship’. Kuwaiti Personal Status Law, No. 51, 1984, states in Article 1: ‘Marriage is a contract between a man and a woman. [With it] a woman becomes legally (sexually) accessible to the man; and its aim is settlement, chastity, and the strength of the nation.’ The Syrian Islamic Personal Status Law, No. 59, 1953, says in Article 1: ‘Marriage is a con­tract between a man and a woman. [With it] a woman becomes legally accessible to the man (sexually); and its aim is building a mutual life bond and children.’ This perception of marriage does change, however, when the Islamic law is reformed as with the case of the reformed Moroccan Family Code (Moudawana) of 2004, which states in Article 4 that

Marriage is a legal contract by which a man and a woman mutually consent to unite in a common and enduring conjugal life. Its purpose is fidelity, virtue and the creation of a stable family, under the supervi­sion of both spouses according to the provisions of this Moudawana.

For more on this subject see Andrea Buchler and Christina Schlatter, “Marriage Age in Islamic and Contemporary Muslim Family Laws: A ComparaLweSurvey,,, Electronic journal of Isnic and Middle Eastern Law 1 (2013), pp. 37-77.

EIhamManea, Icl will nicht mehr Sclweigen-. Der IsIan, der Westen und die Menschenrechte (Freiburg: Herder Verlag, 2009), p. 34.

Some of the Twelver Shi’a jurists added the condition that for a woman to enjoy this right, she should previously have been married. For more de­tails on the jurisprudences positions on guardianship see Wael B. Hallaq, Sharia. Theoryi, Bracticeand Transformations, Cambridge-. Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 274--26.

AhmedShukr MuhammedanLawofMarriageandDivorce,p.97. Ibid., p. 81; David Pearl, A Textbook on Muslim Law, (London: Croom Helm, 1979), p. 65.

Manea, Ich will nicht mehr schweigen, pp. 141-143.

Imam Mohammad Abu Zahrah, Ahkam Al Tirkat wa al MawarH - Provisions for Legacies and Inheritances, in Arabic, (Beirut: Dar Al Fikr Al Arabi, 1963), pp. 122, 131; An-Na'im, “Toward an Islamic Reforma­tion”, p. 176.

An-Na'im, Ibid., p. 176.

Chibli Mallat, Introduction to Middle Eastern Law, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 357.

Frank La Rue, discussion with author by Skype, (23 July 2015).

Elham Manea, “Islam and Human Dignity: A Consequence-Based Ap­proach to Human Dignity and Rights”, in Dorothee Deimann and Simon Mugr feds), Entgegensprechen-. Texte XU Menschenwtrde und IMi en- schenrecht, vol. 1, (Basel: Edition Gesowip, 2010), p. 520.

Brian Orend, Human Rights-, c^o^^t^^t and Context, ([Peterborough'. Broadview Press, 2002), p. 89, quoted in Manea, ibid., pp. 513-514. Webb, op. cit., p. 111.

Ibid., p. 112.

56 EhamManea

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Ali, Rashad, “Islam, ‘Shari’ah Courts, Islamisation and the Far-Right’”, Democratiya 16 (Spring/Summer 2009), pp. 45-52.

Buchler, Andrea and Schlatter, Christina, “Marriage Age in Islamic and Contemporary Muslim Family Laws: A Comparative Survey”, Electronic )ournaloflsIamiicandMiddleE^asternl^aw 1 (2013), pp. 37--7.

Donnelly, Jack, “Cultural Relativism and Universal Human Rights”, Human Rights Quarterly vi(4) (November 1984), pp. 400-419

Griffiths, John, “What Is Legal Pluralism?”, Journal of Legal Pluralism 32(24) (1986), pp. 1-55.

Kaschuba, Wolfgang, “Ethnische Parallelgesllschaften: Zur kulturellen Kon- struktion des Fremden in der europaischen Migration”, Zeitschrift fur Volkskunde 1 (2007), pp. 65-85.

Khadduri, Majid, “Human Rights in Islam”, Annals of the American Acad­emy of Political and Social Science 243 (January 1946), pp. 77-81.

MacEoin, Denis, “Shari’a Law Or ‘One Law for All’?”, Institute for the Study of Civil Society, (London: CIVITAS, 2009).

Yilmaz, Ihsan, ‘The Challenge of Post-Modern Legality and Muslim Legal Pluralism Ln England’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies xxv'tt,2) (April 2002), pp. 343-354.

Articles

Brown, Colin, ‘Let Us Adopt Islamic Family Law to Curb Extremists, Mus­lims Tell Kelly’, The Independent, (15 August 2006), available at.

Kashuba, Wolfgang, “Wie Fremde gemacht werden”, Der Tagesspiegel, (14 January 2007), http://www.tagesspiegel.de/meinung/kommentare/wie- fremde-gemacht-werden∕798460.html>.

Talwa, Divya, ‘Wedding Trouble as UK Muslim Marriages Not Recognised’, BBC News, (3 February 2010), available at.

Serck, Linda ‘Polygamy in Islam: The Women Victims of Multiple Mar­riage’, BBC News, (1 June 2012), available at.

Chapters, Documentaries, Reports, Statistics and Websites

Al-Haddad, Haitham, “Fatwa: A Civil Divorce Is Not a Valid Religious Divorce”, Islam21c.com, (21 July 2010), available at.

Balchin, Cassandra, “Registering Muslim Marriages”, (London: Critical Muslim website, 2011), available at.

Birmingham Mosque Trust (BMT), “Islamic Divorce (Khula) Procedure”, (Birmingham: Birmingham Mosque Trust, 2015), available at.

Proudman, Rachael Charlotte, Equal and Free? Evidence in Support of Bar- OnesscoxsAibitiationandMediationSeivices (Equality) Bi!,(L٠ondon: House of Lords, May 2012).

N. N., “Europe’s Growing Muslim Population”, Pew Research Center, (29 November 2017), http://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/29/europes- growing-muslim-population/.

Manea, Elham, “Islam and Human Dignity: A Consequence-Based Approach to Human Dignity and Rights”, in Dorothee Deimann and Simon Mugier ١ها, Entgegenspreehen-. Texte xu Mensehenwhrde und Mensehenreeht, vol. 1 (Basel: Edition Gesowip, 2010), p. 520.

Office for National Statistics (ONS), “FOI Request: Statistics of the Mus­lim Population in the UK for 2011, 2012, 2013”, (London: ONS, 16 May 2013).

Sonia Nurin Shah-Kazemi, “Untying the Knot: Muslim Women, Divorce and the Shariah”, Nuffield Foundation, (London: Nuffield Foundation, 2001).

“The Truth about Islamic Marriage”, Channel 4, 18:00; “New Channel 4 Survey Reveals the Truth about Muslim Marriage”, Channel 4, (20 No­vember 2017), available at:.

Warraich, Sohail Akbar and Balchin, Cassandra, “Recognizing the Un­recognized: Inter-country Cases and Muslim Marriages & Divorces in Britain”, Women Living Under Muslim Laws, (London: Women Living Under Muslim Laws, 2006).

Webb, Emma, “Fallen through the Cracks: Unregistered Islamic Marriages in England and Wales, and the Future of Legislative Reform”, Institute for the Study of Civil Society, (London: Civitas, August 2020), available at.

Laws

Moroccan Family Code (Moudawana) of 2004.

Yemen’s Family Law No. 20, 1992.

Cited Interviews

Bokhari, Sheikh Mohammad Talha (Coordinator of the Islamic shari’a Council in Birmingham and one of its members), Birmingham, (23 January 2013).

Charlotte, Proudman (Human Rights Barrister), London, (17 January 2013). Dean, Salma (Human Rights Barrister worked on Baroness Cox’s team on the Equality Bill), interview by author, London: House of Lords, (9 August 2013).

Hasan, Sheikh Dr Suhaib (the Islamic Shari’a Council in Leyton), Leyton, (28 January 2013).

Kharfan, Dr Mohammad Shahoot (Imam at Muslim Welfare House East London), London, (22 January 2013).

La Rue, Frank (Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Pro­tection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression), Skype inter­view, (23 July 2015).

Leham, Salim (Legal Director of the Muslim Welfare House in East London), London, (18 January 2013).

Siddiqi, Sheikh Faizul Aqtab (the Director of the Muslim Arbitration Coun­cil), Nuneaton, (15 January 2013).

Sister Sabah (Administrative Coordinator of the Family Support Service at the Islamic shari’a Council in Birmingham), Birmingham (23 January 2013).

3