Sunday, September 14, 2008

Sharia Courts Quickly Spread Throughout the UK

Just four days ago I reported that the UK had opened its first official Sharia Court . Now it has come out that there are already five of these courts with at least two more to come. These courts have been sanctioned by the government, with the UK police actually working with the Sharia courts on cases of domestic violence. I have plenty of friends from the UK, but I have to be honest. The UK govt is absolutely clueless as to what they are doing (to be fair I do not care for my govt either) and this will now encourage more Muslims to push for Sharia across the world. Thanks for handing a victory to the enemy, maybe one day the UK government will actually research Sharia and see that Sharia is for all. Please do the world a favor and bring back the "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher , she would have none of this.



Revealed: UK’s first official sharia courts
Abul Taher
ISLAMIC law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases.

The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.

Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through the county courts or High Court.

Previously, the rulings of sharia courts in Britain could not be enforced, and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims.

It has now emerged that sharia courts with these powers have been set up in London, Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester with the network’s headquarters in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Two more courts are being planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh.


Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, whose Muslim Arbitration Tribunal runs the courts, said he had taken advantage of a clause in the Arbitration Act 1996.

Under the act, the sharia courts are classified as arbitration tribunals. The rulings of arbitration tribunals are binding in law, provided that both parties in the dispute agree to give it the power to rule on their case.

Siddiqi said: “We realised that under the Arbitration Act we can make rulings which can be enforced by county and high courts. The act allows disputes to be resolved using alternatives like tribunals. This method is called alternative dispute resolution, which for Muslims is what the sharia courts are.”

The disclosure that Muslim courts have legal powers in Britain comes seven months after Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was pilloried for suggesting that the establishment of sharia in the future “seems unavoidable” in Britain.

In July, the head of the judiciary, the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, further stoked controversy when he said that sharia could be used to settle marital and financial disputes.

In fact, Muslim tribunal courts started passing sharia judgments in August 2007. They have dealt with more than 100 cases that range from Muslim divorce and inheritance to nuisance neighbours.

It has also emerged that tribunal courts have settled six cases of domestic violence between married couples, working in tandem with the police investigations.

Siddiqi said he expected the courts to handle a greater number of “smaller” criminal cases in coming years as more Muslim clients approach them. “All we are doing is regulating community affairs in these cases,” said Siddiqi, chairman of the governing council of the tribunal.

Jewish Beth Din courts operate under the same provision in the Arbitration Act and resolve civil cases, ranging from divorce to business disputes. They have existed in Britain for more than 100 years, and previously operated under a precursor to the act.

Politicians and church leaders expressed concerns that this could mark the beginnings of a “parallel legal system” based on sharia for some British Muslims.

Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: “If it is true that these tribunals are passing binding decisions in the areas of family and criminal law, I would like to know which courts are enforcing them because I would consider such action unlawful. British law is absolute and must remain so.”

Douglas Murray, the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, said: “I think it’s appalling. I don’t think arbitration that is done by sharia should ever be endorsed or enforced by the British state.”

There are concerns that women who agree to go to tribunal courts are getting worse deals because Islamic law favours men.

Siddiqi said that in a recent inheritance dispute handled by the court in Nuneaton, the estate of a Midlands man was divided between three daughters and two sons.

The judges on the panel gave the sons twice as much as the daughters, in accordance with sharia. Had the family gone to a normal British court, the daughters would have got equal amounts.


In the six cases of domestic violence, Siddiqi said the judges ordered the husbands to take anger management classes and mentoring from community elders. There was no further punishment.

In each case, the women subsequently withdrew the complaints they had lodged with the police and the police stopped their investigations.

Siddiqi said that in the domestic violence cases, the advantage was that marriages were saved and couples given a second chance.

Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “The MCB supports these tribunals. If the Jewish courts are allowed to flourish, so must the sharia ones.”

Additional reporting: Helen Brooks


Link to Article

11 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Goodbye to the British system of jurisprudence!

Once shari'a law takes hold, it will spread and take over the entire legal system. Such is the lesson of the history of Islam for the past 1400 years.

Anonymous said...

sharia law courts in the UK need to be stopped before they take over the whole of the legal system.If they are allowed to gain a foothold it will be to our peril and will be the UK's undoing

Joan

Christopher Logan said...

AOW,

The UK has opened Pandora's Box.


What is sad is that the govt of the UK does not represent strong Brits like Joan at all.

Labour is gutless.

Christopher Logan said...

I urge the readers to cut and paste this link, to see Americas first Sharia court. It does not have as much power as the UK ones do though. YET.


http://islaminaction08.blogspot.com/2008/04/as-we-all-know-islamic-countries-across.html

Anonymous said...

Great Britain needs a modern day Charles Martel to lead it out of the mess the idiot arse-kissing politicians have gotten the Brits into.

Britain really should just kick out MudSlime cockroaches and run them back to their third world hell holes.

Swedish Steel

Anonymous said...

Can you imagine the Muslims telling Britain's football/soccer hooligans that they can't drink beer or go to football/soccer games?

I noticed in Denmark applications to the Hells Angels are soaring because of Islam.

And look at the reaction of the Christian Swift workers to special treatment for Muslims.

It may end up that the fighting and drinking working class of peoples in Europe and America are going to start stomping the shiite out of the Muslims while the majority of our politicians and judges are licking every Muslim boot and kissing every Muslim ass they can find.

I am told that many Brits are stockpiling weapons and ammo in secret even though it is illegal. Supposedly, many of these illegal weapons come out of Russia.

RadarCat

Anonymous said...

Radar Cat

I am unable to log in.

Lepanto said...

The Brits - and all western Europeans, and people on this side of "the pond" as well - should have paid attention to Pat Buchanan, he predicted this and more; and Britain should have heeded Enoch Powell - never has a man been more completely vindicated.But it is too late now for western Europe, they are already defeated,they have no stomach for a fight with militant islam.

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Unknown said...

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