from "First UK Sharia court up and running in Warwickshire," by Les Reid, Coventry Telegraph
A Muslim college in Warwickshire is running the UK's first official sharia law court.
The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal has used sharia law to settle more than 100 civil disputes between Muslims across the UK since it opened last December. The tribunal, which runs along side the British legal system, was set up by scholars and lawyers at Hijaz College Islamic University in Watling Street, Nuneaton.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, recently said there was no reason why sharia law, derived from several sources including the Koran, could not be used for contractual agreements and marital disputes.
Cases already heard in Nuneaton include an inheritance dispute between three sisters and their two brothers, a divorce and a neighbour dispute. In the inheritance case, the men were given double their sisters' inheritance.
The divorce hearing ruled that a Somalian woman should be granted an Islamic khula (annulment) despite her husband's strong objections. And in the neighbourhood dispute, the tribunal ruled that the losing party - a group of young Muslim graduates - should teach the winning party, who had young children.
Faisal Aqtab Siddiqi, a commercial law barrister and head of Hijaz College, has sat in judgment at a number of the tribunals. He said it was not the same as unofficial sharia courts reported to be in operation across the country.
He said: "We are trying to supplement English law by helping the British citizen not to be forced into or coerced into marriage."
The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Dr Michael NazirAli, who was born in Pakistan and has both a Christian and Muslim family background, said he was concerned that people might feel coerced into accepting sharia arbitration.(more)
