It’s a sunny morning here in the UK, or should that be Sunni?
With the news that The Law Society has explicitly endorsed Sharia Law in their latest Guidance by hoping to enshrine its principles in our legal system, many are questioning the legitimacy of this proposal.
The Guidance centers around Islamic Wills, and if the principles are recognised in Britain’s courts, would allow children out of wedlock and those adopted to be disinherited just by virtue of belonging to those classes. Women too, would be excluded or treated as second class citizens by virtue of the patriarchal principles enshrined in Sharia Law. The Guidance appears to be accommodating the ever-growing network of official and unofficial Sharia courts in the UK.
What isn’t being explained, is that under our own wills and intestacy laws in the UK, there is a wide range of discretion which would also allow for potential discrimination to take place. On the face of it, the outcomes of both UK and Islamic wills, may not be so different.
However, our government is meant to be secular. Our laws are meant to be secular. And they are meant to comply with Human Rights legislation we’re signed up to, as well.
So, our question this week then, is this: should the UK be accommodating religious and customary laws and if so, should all religions represented inside the UK have their own designated courts?
Researching Reform 
Definitely NOT. English Law with its many flaws are well established. Are OUR Court Rules applied in Moslem Countries ?. Do not mistake me. This is how I see the situation, Our Law is not COMBINED with religion and decisions are made without that factor. One merely has to see some of the videos(I have only seen two)that show how that Law is carried out.
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Thank you, Phil. I do think law should be kept secular.
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No! It wasn’t so long ago that we heard of Muslims vigilantes who were wanting Sharia Law, attacking women on the streets of the UK over the clothes they were wearing and attacking drinkers or those corner shops selling alcohol! There was a documentary recently on TV about this but the vigilantes were found guilty and jailed!
Adoption in the UK means the adoptive children are supposed to be treated the same as blood children but not so under Sharia Law as adoptive children cannot inherit! With those views how many children have been adopted in the UK to those who hold those veiws and are being treated as 2nd class next to blood?
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Many thanks for your post, Dana.
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Denning must be spinning in his grave at the news that one section of the population will escape equality laws and his ‘assets confiscation’ rulings. Three cheers for that I say – I never rated him as a sensible judge – he never should have married a divorced woman – but he was better than Ormrod (or the more latter-day Thorpe, Bitler-Sloss etc, etc ).
But what is The Law Society thinking of in proposing that High Street solicitors will be able to write Islamic wills that deny women an equal share of inheritances and exclude unbelievers altogether ? Where do we Gentiles, Christians and Jews fit in ? Or don’t we ? Are some religions more equal than others (a la Animal Farm ?).
Have they taken leave of their historic senses and forgotten what the equally liberal minded Weimar Republic slithered into and then then gave birth to ? How many times has a liberal democracy given an inch and ended up giving a mile ?
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Thank you for you comment, R. Yes, it seems strange that only one religion should be allowed its own courts and laws to apply in the UK. The truth about UK law though is that women can be excluded in secular wills too – hence the delicate nature of this debate. I don’t object to people disposing of their assets the way they see fit (notwithstanding the tragic reality that people may do so on immoral and unethical grounds, often), but I do object to the lack of equality in how every law is applied. I do feel that all religious laws allowed to be implemented must be Human Rights compliant, but I’d prefer to see a secular system through and through.
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Is there some sort of contradictions here ? Most people would prefer to see a secular system though women you say can be excluded in a secular will. I have never come across that. What I have come across is people being excluded from a will but that had nothing to do with being either a man or a woman, a cripple or an athlete. So would you like to clarify matters, please ? I would rather hope that a dead man is in any case beyond the reach of any transitory equality laws but apparently this does not stop the CSA agency going after money from a dead man’s estate.
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Even though there is paraitl practice, it is still up to the person as he can choose civil law. If not, how come Muslims can marry non-Muslims here? So please don’t be deluded. There is no Sharia here. When I say we don’t practice Sharia, it means that Sharia is not the supreme law governing our daily lives which included criminal law. Just live with the fact, that this is a secular country.If marriage law or banking law by Sharia qualifies a country to be under “Countries practicing Sharia”, then UK should be one of them because they have Islamic Bank of Britain.
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