Muslims have been pushing for the establishment of Sharia — Islamic law — in the UK and elsewhere. The practice is promoted with the assurance that ‘no hands will be cut off’ — referring to but one of Sharia’s many human rights violations as applied in many Muslim countries.
Now a report, Sharia Law in Britain: A Threat to One Law for All and Equal Rights, reveals the adverse effect of sharia courts on family law. Under sharia’s civil code, a woman’s testimony is worth half of a man’s. A man can divorce his wife by repudiation, whereas a woman must give justifications, some of which are difficult to prove. Child custody reverts to the father at a preset age; women who remarry lose custody of their children even before then; and sons inherit twice the share of daughters.
There has been much controversy about Muslim arbitration tribunals, which have attracted attention because they operate as tribunals under the Arbitration Act, making their rulings binding in UK law.
But sharia councils, which are charities, are equally harmful since their mediation differs little from arbitration…
Rights, justice, inclusion, equality and respect are for people, not for beliefs and parallel legal systems, writes Maryam Namazie in the Guardian. To safeguard the rights and freedoms of all those living in Britain, there must be one secular law for all and no religious courts.