Testimony

The testimony of two women equals that of one man. Originally this rule was meant for financial affairs; but the jurists expanded the rule and made it a general rule.

This overview leads us to the question: What type of Islamic law is be­ing implemented within Britain’s shari’a courts? The short answer is: the classical Islamic law with all its contradictions and discrimination.

From their perspective, what they are applying is not only fiqh, the jurists’ traditions. They are applying what they think of literally as God’s law, the law of Allah. Hence, depending on the type of shari’a court applying this law, it can either seek a fundamentalist inter­pretation of fiqh, or it can try to make the lives of women easier by seeking the most lenient interpretation. But the mindset is framed by the perception that shari’a is God’s law and therefore better than any other secular law. The mindset is also shaped by the acceptance of the rules I mentioned above, that regulate marriage, divorce, polygamy, guardianship, inheritance, etc., anything related to family affairs and women’s position within the family. They accept these rules and do not question them. Hence during my interviews with five ‘judges’, including a female member of a Shari’a council, they reflected their perceptfont,hat,t,ht-S IswhatlslamcommandstisiswhatGodcom- mandsandweatefollowingGod’sIaw.

Within this mindset, the jurists’ traditions somehow seem to be­come sacred in these judges’ minds; they reflect a ‘divine wisdom’ that transcends our understanding. Naturally this leads them to apply the classical Islamic law to the letter, picking and choosing as they want from within that pool of traditions.

Consider the issue of the proper age for marriage. Sheikh Siddiqi of the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal is clear regarding this issue.

Sheikh Siddiqi: In my view, puberty is the right age.

Again, we see classical Islamic jurisprudence being used as a point of reference in these courts.

The guardianship issue clearly illustrates this point. As we saw above, Sheikh Siddiqi considers that the guardian knows best for his ward. Dr Mohammad Shahoot Kharfan, of the Muslim Welfare House, demands that the bride and the groom and the guardian be present at the wedding ceremony. But to contract the marriage, the guardian has to approve. One example he gave me was of a woman in her thirties who wanted to marry. Dr Kharfan asked for her guard­ian to contract the marriage. When she told him he lives in another country, he called him to get his approval and to ask him to delegate his right of guardianship to another person, a male of course. When I asked Dr Kharfan if her voice was not enough, his answer was matter- of-fact: ‘the guardian is present, the guardian is present’, meaning, we have a guardian here, and he will decide.

By the same token, Hanafi jurisprudence allows the guardian to annul the marriage of his female ward if he is not satisfied with her choice of the groom, and the people I interviewed consider this provi­sion valid. In fact, it has been used and applied in the Islamic Shari’a Council, Leyton, and the Birmingham Islamic Shari’a Council of the Central Mosque. As I said before, the latter is considered to be sup­portive of women’s needs.