{"id":9368,"date":"2016-09-16T21:55:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T20:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=9368"},"modified":"2016-09-30T15:36:06","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T14:36:06","slug":"limited-consultation-sharia-courts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/limited-consultation-sharia-courts\/","title":{"rendered":"Limited consultation on sharia courts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kadhis<\/a>
Kadhis (judges) of the Islamic Sharia Council delve into Islamic law<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Governments’ consultation into sharia courts opened in July and closed in August. It was said to be \u2018part of an independent review into its use in England and Wales’.<\/p>\n

Professor Mona Siddiqui, a Muslim herself, was appointed to lead it, ‘investigating the treatment of women in cases involving divorce, domestic violence and child custody’.<\/p>\n

NO INFIDELS\u00a0NEED RESPOND<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was not, as so many thought it should be, a consultation into the principle of whether a rival law system should operate under the established legal system in England and Wales. The Home Office only wanted to hear from \u2018people with experience of sharia law.’<\/p>\n

\"Muslim<\/a>
Muslim women are not all opposed to Sharia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That meant ‘Kadhis’, sharia judges, and those on the receiving end of Islamic justice.<\/p>\n

The consultation page said:<\/p>\n

\u2018We would like to hear from you if you have knowledge, expertise or experience on the use of sharia law, especially if you:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018work or have worked as part of a sharia council in the last 5 years<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018have used a sharia council in any capacity in the last 5 years,’<\/em><\/p>\n

It meant only Muslims could respond and no-one, including a Muslim with misgivings about sharia councils, who had not paritcipated in such a court would be admitted to the consultation.<\/p>\n

ARBITRATION SYSTEM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sharia courts operate within the arbitration system which was set up in the nineteenth century by the Arbitration Act 1889. Arbitration is especially useful in commercial disputes and cases involving land or construction. Costs for parties are lower and by agreeing to arbitration, parties relieve time pressure on the overburdened courts. The outcome on parties who agree to arbitration is binding and enforceable.<\/p>\n

Arbitration panels operating specifically for Muslims fall within this system.<\/p>\n

The problem is that no-one is really sure what system of law is being applied by the\u00a0Muslim Arbitration Tribunal<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(MAT),\u00a0the main Islamic arbitration council which has sprung up.<\/p>\n

KADHI COURTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is it true that Islamic arbitration, as Government ministers stoutly maintain, and Wikipedia announces<\/a><\/strong>: ‘operates within the framework of English law and does not constitute a separate Islamic legal system’?<\/p>\n

Or is the Kadhi (the Arabic word for ‘judge’) secretly\u00a0handing down Fatwa (Arabic for ‘judgment’) using\u00a0Sharia (the Arabic word for ‘law’)?<\/p>\n

Kahdi Courts using the Arbitration framework are said\u00a0on the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal website (above) to be ‘a viable alternative for the Muslim community seeking to resolve disputes in accordance with Islamic Sacred Law’.<\/p>\n

How can they be in accordance with Sharia and also with the law of England and Wales, or that of Scotland? \u00a0The Scottish Government said in a response to a consultation<\/a><\/strong> that parties could explicitly agree to ‘apply Sharia law’ to their dispute. \u00a0They also said: ‘Any final award must comply with Scots or UK law otherwise it would be unenforceable in the Scottish courts.’ \u00a0What does that mean if a party has already agreed to Sharia?<\/p>\n

SHARIA DIVORCE COURTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to Kadhi Courts operating within the arbitration system, there are others, including the\u00a0Islamic Sharia Council<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(ISC), set up to apply Islamic law outside it. \u00a095% or the work of the ISC is to do with divorce, enabling Muslim parties (mainly, it appears, women) to gain an Islamic divorce in addition to a UK\u00a0civil divorce.<\/p>\n

Although they say they do not settle matters of residence of children, Machteld Zee, a Dutch author<\/a><\/strong>, looking at the way these courts operate, concluded they do indeed decide those matters. \u00a0In practice, a party would probably then concede the Sharia position decided by the Kadhis on his or her next appearance in the civil court.<\/p>\n

She revealed there are around 85 such councils in England and Wales. \u00a0She also said they invariably give custody or ‘residence’ of children to fathers. \u00a0Some might add ‘it’s about time’ in view of the opposite tendency in civil divorce courts, but that is exactly the point. \u00a0There appear to be competing parallel systems operating.<\/p>\n

MUSLIMS ‘BENEFIT’ FROM SHARIA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Setting up the enquiry, Theresa May, as Home Secretary, claimed that\u00a0many British Muslims “benefit a great deal” from the existence of Kadhi Courts. \u00a0Nile Gardiner, a foreign policy analyst and former aide to Margaret Thatcher, was unimpressed by her comments, describing them as “unbelievable”.<\/p>\n

Mrs May said: “Many British people of different faiths follow religious codes and practices, and benefit a great deal from the guidance they offer.<\/p>\n

“A number of women have reportedly been victims of what appear to be discriminatory decisions taken by Sharia councils, and that is a significant concern.<\/p>\n

“There is only one rule of law in our country, which provides rights and security for every citizen.”<\/p>\n

The testimony of the MAP and the findings of Machfeld Zee indicate\u00a0that rule of law is set aside the moment a Muslim agrees to be bound by a Sharia Kadhi Court.<\/p>\n

EXPERTISE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mrs May said, “Professor Siddiqui, supported by a panel with a strong balance of academic, religious and legal expertise, will help us better understand whether and the extent to which Sharia law is being misused or exploited and make recommendations to the Government on how to address this.”<\/p>\n

According to the Home Office<\/a><\/strong>, the panel includes ‘family law barrister Sam Momtaz, retired high court judge Sir Mark Hedley and specialist family law lawyer Anne Marie Hutchinson OBE QC’. \u00a0Crucially, it will also be\u00a0‘advised’ by two ‘religious and theological experts’ who are Islamic preachers: Imam Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi and Imam Qari Asim.<\/p>\n

Comments made by Imam Razawi reported in the Independent<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0suggest he supports the death penalty in Islamic states, promotes negative views about homosexuality and believes Western clothing is a sign of corruption.<\/p>\n

Imam Asim is attached to Leeds Makkah Masjid, one of the UK’s largest mosques. \u00a0Secularist Muslim-origin signatories to a letter seen by The Independent pronounced the consultation a whitewash before it even began.<\/p>\n

We await the consultation’s findings with interest to see if they will be proved right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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The Governments’ consultation into sharia courts opened in July and closed in August. It was said to be \u2018part of an independent review into its use in England and Wales’. Professor Mona Siddiqui, a Muslim herself, was appointed to lead it, ‘investigating the treatment of women in cases involving divorce, domestic violence and child custody’. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[1527,2105,2106,1799,2107],"class_list":["post-9368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-secularism","tag-islam","tag-kadhi","tag-kadhi-courts","tag-sharia","tag-theresa-may-mona-siddiqui"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Stephen","author_link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/author\/stephen\/"},"rttpg_comment":1,"rttpg_category":"Secularism<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"The Governments’ consultation into sharia courts opened in July and closed in August. It was said to be \u2018part of an independent review into its use in England and Wales’. Professor Mona Siddiqui, a Muslim herself, was appointed to lead it, ‘investigating the treatment of women in cases involving divorce, domestic violence and child custody’.…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}