A Muslim think tank has found
some UK Imams discriminate
against women when enforcing
Islamic Sharia law. Scholars at the Centre for Islamic
Pluralism (CIP) interviewed 90 Muslims
in London, the West Midlands,
Lancashire and West Yorkshire. They found some women did not get
fair hearings in forced marriage,
arranged marriage and domestic
violence matters. It comes after an NHS doctor was freed
in Bangladesh following claims she
was being held there for a forced
marriage. Sharia is a set of principles which
govern the way many Muslims believe
they should live their life. Some
mosques hold Sharia courts. The CIP's international director and its
report's author Dr Irfan Al-Alawi said
women seeking help in situations like
forced marriages often turned to
Imams for a ruling on what to do. "Our research shows that domestic
violence and forced marriages seem to
be the dominant problems that
women are facing and seeking Sharia
rulings on. "In every case it is a male who is the
defendant coming from India,
Pakistan or Bangladesh. "Some ladies have approached the
Imams and the Imams... have
encouraged the ladies to stay with
their husband or with their in-laws,
whereby they have a duty bound
under the Sharia." He said he knew of a 15-year-old girl
in Pakistan who was tricked into
marriage over the telephone with a
40-year-old man from Sheffield, who
had the mental age of a four-year-old
child. "The Home Office refused to recognise
the validity of the marriage but the
Islamic Sharia Council in Britain
accepted it," said Dr Al-Alawi. He said Imams should be working at
the heart of their communities
showing leadership, but some were
failing to do so. He accused some Imams of "cashing
in" on the Sharia system. On average it may cost someone £250
to go and get an Islamic divorce, he
said. "There are Pirs [Muslim holy men] and
Imams who come here from south
Asia and charge people for charms,
holy water... how is this helping
anyone?" he asked. "They should be putting back
something useful into society." The spotlight has been on forced
marriages in recent weeks, with the
introduction of new laws designed to
help victims, and a high-profile case in
Bangladesh. Lawyers for trainee NHS GP Humayra
Abedin, 33, from east London, said her
family planned to force her into
marriage after she travelled to Dhaka. She had travelled there as she thought
her mother was ill, and then was held
against her will for months, they said. Ms Abedin is due to arrive back in the
UK later, after London's High Court
ordered her return under the new
Forced Marriage Act and the High
Court in Dhaka also ruled she must be
freed. Thirty-year-old Sophiya (not her real
name) from West Yorkshire, was 13
when her father arranged her
marriage to a distant cousin in
Pakistan. She said that after much resistance she
was forced to marry a man she did not
want to, but decided to go through
with it so she could get back to the UK
and put her case to a local Imam. "I saw three Imams but they all ruled
that I was legally married according to
the Sharia. I told them I had been
forced but they said that did not
change anything." Sophiya decided to try and please her
parents and her new husband and
carry on, but three years later she
sought an Islamic divorce. "I met some more Imams and said that
we had been separated now for
nearly two years but instead of giving
me guidance with my divorce, they
suggested I had to go for counselling
or therapy. "I told them I had been forced and this
was not Islamic, but they disagreed." A few months later Sophyia's husband
wrote and gave her the Islamic
divorce she longed for. "I went through the proper Islamic
way and these men told me to go
away." Sophiya said she wants the
government to send Imams back to
their countries of origin if they cannot
uphold the true values of the Sharia. 'Grey area' Ishtiaq Ahmed, is a spokesperson the
Council for Mosques, a Bradford-based
group which represents over 90
mosques and religious schools. "We have in Britain... Muslims from all
over the world, people are practising
their own cultural, their social, kind of
way of life. "We have looked into this issue on
many occasions and have found that
for some Imams a grey area can form
where the rulings of the Sharia finish
and long-held cultural practices start. "Imams do need more training and
help; we also need lots more female
scholars, ulemas, to work with our
communities and try and help
women." "I feel Imams are not trying to
deliberately discriminate against
anyone we just have to be more open
in how we pass judgements so
everyone is happy and understands
the process." The report is due to be published next
month and will be sent to the
government and agencies. It will recommend that Imams coming
to the UK from south Asia and Africa
need to be vetted to ensure they have
a broad knowledge of Islam and a
good command of English, so they can
carry out their duties in a professional and competent way.
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