Islamic Sharia Council

The Islamic Sharia Council (ISC) is a British organisation that provides legal rulings and advice to Muslims in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic Sharia based on the four Sunni schools of thought. It primarily handles cases of marriage and divorce and, to a lesser extent, business and finance.[3] Thousands of Muslims have turned to the Council to resolve family and financial issues.[4] The Economist magazine states it has offered rulings to "thousands of troubled families since the 1980s",[5] the council states that it has dealt with an average of between 200 and 300 cases monthly as of January 2012.[4]

Islamic Sharia Council
Formation1982[1]
Registration no.1003855
PurposeProvision of advice on Islamic principles and law.[2]
HeadquartersLeyton, London
Region served
UK
Websiteislamic-sharia.org

The council has no legal authority in the United Kingdom,[3] and cannot enforce any penalties; many Muslims would appear voluntarily to accept the rulings made by the ISC.[4]

The Islamic Sharia Council says it is "devoted to the articulation of classical Islamic principles in a manner that provides a platform for Islam to be the cure of all humanity's ills."[6] According to The Economist magazine its "two main founders come from purist schools of Islam, the Deobandis and the Salafis".[5] A rival service, the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, was founded in 2007 by followers of the Barelvi school of South Asian Islam, is reportedly "less strict than the Deobandis" and as of 2010 offered dispute resolution in half a dozen British cities.[5]

Criticism and defence

Humera Khan, co-founder of the An-Nisa Society, has said that Sharia councils provide an essential service for many Muslims who see Sharia as a sacred reference, and if used voluntarily, may actually lift a burden off state funded services.[7] Lawyer and rabbi Alex Goldberg has also said that banning them would be "counterproductive", as it would "bolster underground councils rather than those who are seeking to work within the English legal framework, and recognise they are subservient to the English law."[7]

In an April 2013 report, the BBC's Panorama asked whether the Islamic Sharia Council was "failing vulnerable women and mothers" by requiring women seeking divorce to give back their marriage dowry (or mahr).[8] The question of khula divorce often turns on the dower: if the woman is seeking the divorce, she has to return the dower to the man, or else the divorce cannot proceed. Since in traditional Islamic society, men are traditionally the bank account holders and women are traditionally homemakers, the woman has no purchase, and cannot obtain a loan in order to repay the dower to receive an Islamically recognized divorce. The Islamic Sharia Council must recognise a British divorce, by virtue of the law of the land, if the petitioner shows them a decree absolute. However, the Islamic Sharia Council is displeased if the dower remains unpaid.[1]

Writer, broadcaster and academic Myriam Francois-Cerrah has pointed to "serious problems" with the councils, citing a case in which a Muslim woman seeking advice was reportedly directed to a "controversial cleric" who urged her to give up her custody dispute with her husband and "hand over full custody of her seven year old child" to him despite the fact that the husband was a "violent schizophrenic" who had abused her for years.[7]

See also

References
  1. ft.com: "First Person: Dr Suhaib Hasan", 19 Sep 2009
  2. charitycommission.gov.uk: 1003855 - ISLAMIC SHARIA COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
  3. Bell, Dan (14 June 2007). "In the name of the law". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
  4. Talwar, Divya (16 January 2012). "Growing use of Sharia by UK Muslims". BBC News. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  5. "Sharia in the West. Whose law counts most?". The Economist. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  6. Weale, Sally (23 February 2015). "Westminster University students try to stop 'homophobic' cleric speaking". The Guardian.
  7. Francois-Cerrah, Myriam (17 Jul 2014). "Why banning Sharia courts would harm British Muslim women". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  8. Corbin, Jane (6 Apr 2013). "Are Sharia councils failing vulnerable women?". BBC News Online.
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