Atheists & Agnostics

alp227

(32,038 posts) Mon Jan 16, 2012, 05:39 PM Jan 2012

Growing use of Sharia by UK Muslims

An estimated 85 Sharia councils could be operating in Britain, according to a 2009 report by the think tank Civitas.

Several bodies like the Islamic Sharia Council have seen a large increase in their cases in the past five years.

''Our cases have easily more than tripled over the past three to five years," says Sheikh al-Haddad.

''On average, every month we can deal with anything from 200 to 300 cases. A few years ago it was just a small fraction of that.

George Washington Univ. law professor and civil liberties advocate Jonathan Turley comments in "English Citizens Increasingly Turning To Sharia Courts":

While I support the right to these people in seeking justice from Sharia courts as a private matter, I will not hide my concern. It represents a further separation from society for Muslim families and a further compartmentation of parts of society into insular communities. Civil courts should represent part of our collective covenant to live in a unified legal system. Another concern is that it can reinforce those who oppose separation of church or mosque and state. With quasi-courts meting out faith-based justice, many are likely to seek other expression of religious doctrine in laws and policies.

3 replies

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Growing use of Sharia by UK Muslims (Original Post) alp227 Jan 2012 OP

Do we feel the same way about aboriginal Circle Justice? GliderGuider Jan 2012 #1

Or the Jewish Beth Din? Warpy Jan 2012 #3

I have mixed feelings about this. ZombieHorde Jan 2012 #2

GliderGuider

(21,088 posts)

1. Do we feel the same way about aboriginal Circle Justice?

Reply to alp227 (Original post)

Mon Jan 16, 2012, 06:16 PM

Jan 2012

If not, why not?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_justice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorative_justice

Warpy

(111,302 posts)

3. Or the Jewish Beth Din?

Reply to GliderGuider (Reply #1)

Mon Jan 16, 2012, 09:35 PM

Jan 2012

There are a lot of parallel judicial systems, many religiously based and some tribally based. Here in NM, tribal courts decide everything but murder cases and one specialty in the law is to mediate differences between state/Federal and tribal law. It works, mostly.

Such parallel systems work best when all parties are within that system and they don't involve criminal matters.

I have absolutely no problems with squabbles of many types being solved by religious courts if the parties agree. The real problem is that they won't be enforced by the civil court if one party doesn't like the ruling.

ZombieHorde

(29,047 posts)

2. I have mixed feelings about this.

Reply to alp227 (Original post)

Mon Jan 16, 2012, 06:55 PM

Jan 2012

On one hand, Islam is usually very conservative, and I am a liberal, so I have a natural distaste for conservative courts.

On the other hand, people's sense of culture and tradition is usually completely delusional. People talk about these things as if they are some unchanging aspect of humanity. Culture and tradition constantly change in first world countries.

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