Hawzah News Agency-The British government has announced an investigation into Islamic law or Sharia to examine its compatibility with national laws.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the review will be conducted by a panel that includes several Islamic scholars and comes as part of the government’s counter-extremism strategy.
“The terms of reference set out the reviews’ intention to explore whether, and to what extent, the application of Sharia law may be incompatible with the law in England and Wales. It will examine the ways in which Sharia may be being misused, or exploited, in a way that may discriminate against certain groups, undermine shared values and cause social harms,” her announcement said.
May noted 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.”
“There is only one rule of law in our country, which provides rights and security for every citizen,” she said.
Mona Siddiqui, described as an expert in Islamic and inter-religious studies, was appointed to lead the investigation. She said the review will look at “what actually happens in Sharia councils.”
She teaches at the University of Edinburgh.
Others on the panel include family law experts Sam Momtaz and Anne Marie Hutchinson, and retired judge Mark Hedley.
May’s announcement said many people benefit from the religious codes they follow.
“However, there is evidence some Sharia councils may be working in a discriminatory and unacceptable way, seeking to legitimize forced marriage and issue divorces that are unfair to women, contrary to the teachings of Islam.”
The Christian Institute, which frequently has highlighted problems with Sharia councils, said the review is expected to conclude in 2017.
“Persistent concerns have been raised that women are suffering because of Sharia law in this country, and Baroness Caroline Cox speaking out repeatedly about the issue,” the institute said.
Cox, a patron of the institute, sparked a debate in the House of Lords last year about Sharia, proposing an Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill that addressed the oppression of Muslim women in Sharia councils.
The application of Islamic religious law in free societies has created problems.
For example, the London Sunday Times said Sharia courts “ignore marital rape.”
Cox appeared in a video charging Sharia is undermining the 800 years of freedom that have existed since the signing of the Magna Carta.
See her comments:
“I believe passionately in the freedom of religion and belief. But in Britain there is now a system of Sharia councils or courts, which inherently discriminate against women and girls, and causing a great deal of suffering,” she explains.
She cites the Islamic provision for men to divorce their wives by saying “I divorce you” three times.
And women often have to “pay or fulfill other conditions that may be very difficult,” she says.
“We must not get caught in a labyrinth of inaction because we’re afraid of upsetting cultural sensitivities or political correctness,” she says.
The U.K. has more than 100 “Muslim enclaves” that are “de facto off limits to non-Muslims due to a number of factors, including the lawlessness, insecurity or religious intimidation that often pervades these areas.”
Under Sharia practices in the U.K., two male judges can interrogate a woman alone in a room about her “sexual activities.” And another judge can “laugh” at a woman who complained her husband was physically abusing her.
Matchteld Zee of Leiden University in the Netherlands issued the report after obtaining access to the secretive religious courts and listening to two days of hearings at the Islamic Sharia Council in east London and at Birmingham Central Mosque Sharia.
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