In the recent years, it is often heard of in the news that Muslims are setting up “Shariah Courts” in countries such as England, and running a parrallel legal system that contradicts the law of the land, and even abuses the human rights.
I have looked into several sources about these “Shariah Courts”; do they exist, and are the ‘reports’ about them true? Well, Homa Khaleeli disagrees. According to her, “Almost all the sharia councils […] were founded to facilitate Islamic divorces for Muslim women who need a religious scholar to end their marriage where their husbands don’t consent” and “their rulings have no legal standing here or abroad, and they have no enforcement powers. As unofficial bodies, they also have no jurisdiction over custody or financial issues” (Khaleeli, 2017). Though some suspicions about these councils may be exaggerated (such as the punishment of stoning), other concerns may be credible. Some have argued that these Shariah courts treat women unequally and unfairly, being told to endure abusive marriages. She furthermore argues, that though many women feel comfortable with Shariah courts, as they help women initiate and execute a divorce Islamically, they create social problems. Many couples do not register their marriages to the English legal system, thus do not recieve the protection if they get divorced. “Instead of a prenuptial agreement, men are refusing a legal marriage. Women are worried about losing their rishta [marriage proposal] so they say: ‘OK’.” (Khaleeli, 2017). And with the rising ultra-conservatism that is Salafism, these councils are becoming more mysoginist and unfair. However, there are drastic pushes to make these councils more moderate from institutions such as Islamic Cultural Centre and London Central mosque in Regent’s Park (Khaleeli, 2017)
The BBC’s Jean Mackenzie and Adam Eley have also looked into this issue, and they confirmed some of what Khaleeli has found. Many women do indeed come to these Shariah courts to look for Islamic divorce, and these courts have no legal binding or enforcing power. These divorce courts, however, rely on the religious trust Muslims put in them to end divorces in the sight of God (Eley Mackenzie, 2016).
They have found as well that these courts are not without their issues. They interviewed Shaista Gohir who is the chairwoman of the charity Muslim Women’s Network UK. She says that these councils are often unfair to women and ask intrusive questions (Eley Mackenzie, 2016).
When dealing with the solution to such issues however, a major problem arises. Ms. Gohir argues that because these Shariah courts are losely organized and do not answer to neither government nor Mosque, it is extremely difficult to even assess their activity, let alone influence them (Eley Mackenzie, 2016). It may be just left to goodwill.
Generally as the two sources suggest, these Shariah court is a nuanced Issue. On the one hand, they are institutions that devout Muslims believe in and women rely upon it to get religiously legitimate divorces. On the other hand, the power they hold can be used to make mysoginist and oppressive actions and decisions.
What does this imply, what is the significance of this? Well, it is important because it does two things; on the one hand it dissolves the exaggerated, politically-charged allegations against these courts about extreme punishments such as stoning and flogging, while not ignoring the serious issues these courts face. We realize that the solution to such issues may not be simple. Simply criminalizing such practice would affect many devout muslim women in a negative way, as they rely upon it to get out of abusive marriages. Not doing anything will allow many mysoginist and oppressive decisions by such courts to continue ruining the lives of women.
Khaleeli, Homa 2017 “Inside Britain’s Sharia Councils: hardlien and anti-women – or a dignified way to divorce?” the Guardian Wednesday 1 March 2017 16.39 GMT https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/mar/01/inside-britains-sharia-councils-hardline-and-anti-women-or-a-dignified-way-to-divorce
Eley Jean and Mackenzie Jean 2016 “The UK women seeking divorce through Shariah councils” BBC Victoria Derbyshire programme 11 July 2016 UK http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36587665
Women in Islamic History at NU 