\nLONDON: Farida Miah was still reeling from the shock of learning that her husband had taken a second wife when she found out he had divorced her and ended their 18-year marriage.<\/p>\n
\nMiah, a British citizen of Bangladeshi origin, contacted a UK civil court and learned that her husband had managed to bypass the dowry settlement due to her under the terms of their Islamic marriage, leaving her with nothing.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cHe has all we owned,\u201d said Miah, who lives in London and whose name has been changed to protect her identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nHer problems arose because \u2014 like many Muslim women in the UK \u2014 she had \u201can Islamic marriage, but an English divorce\u201d via a British civil court. More than a decade later, she is still struggling to put her life back together after finding herself stuck between these conflicting cultural and legal codes.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe UK courts say there is nothing they can do \u2014 there is no law to help. Everywhere I turned was blocked to me,\u201d she told Arab News.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nRising divorce rates among British Muslim communities have prompted questions over the status of Islamic marriage \u2014 known in Arabic as \u201cnikah\u201d \u2014 in the UK. Lacking formal legal recognition, it denies couples the protections available in civil unions if the relationship breaks down.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe state only affords you rights through the institution of marriage, without that you have no access to support,\u201d said Samia Bano, a senior lecturer specializing in Muslim family law at SOAS University of London, a leading institution for Middle East studies. While the fallout can negatively affect both parties, women, in particular, are \u201coften left in precarious situations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\nIn 2017, a survey by UK TV station Channel 4 of 1,000 British Muslim women found that almost two-thirds had a nikah-only marriage and that more than a quarter did not realize this meant they would be denied rights and protections they would have had for a marriage union that was legally recognized.<\/p>\n
\nFor these women, the discovery can be \u201cdevastating,\u201d said Sarah Khan-Bashir, a lawyer specializing in sharia divorce. \u201cThey think they\u2019ve got all the rights that husbands and wives should have, but they don\u2019t, and they find out when it\u2019s far too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nOne client faced losing her home after her husband of 23 years died as she was unable to produce proof that he had divorced his first wife. Khan-Bashir had to explain to her that she was effectively a cohabitee with a nikah, news that left the client shaking visibly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nFamily lawyer Siddique Patel said that nikah-only marriage is becoming more popular. \u201cAmong the under-30s, a lot of Muslim men and women who were born and bred in the UK are coming to us with unregistered marriages.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nLack of awareness is a major factor, but sometimes the wealthier partner \u2014 usually the man \u2014 bypasses a civil ceremony to escape equal division of assets in a civil divorce. \u201cThey\u2019re scared 50:50 splits will happen,\u201d Patel said, adding that \u201cwomen lose out more (often) than men.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nPatel is part of the team behind the Register Our Marriage campaign, which is calling for compulsory registration of all marriages and the reform of the 1949 Marriage Act to cover all faiths. This 69-year-old law is no longer \u201cfit for purpose\u201d in a modern multicultural society, said Islamic law expert Aina Khan, who launched the campaign. The Act only recognizes religious ceremonies conducted in the Anglican, Quaker Christian and Jewish traditions.<\/p>\n
\nAlthough people of all other religions are affected, others tend to register, while the campaign estimates that around 80 percent of newly married Muslims do not.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Ahmed Al-Dubayan, director general of the Islamic Cultural Center and the London Central Mosque, said UK Muslims need to have both ceremonies. \u201cAs British citizens, or people living in the UK, we make the civil marriage a condition because it\u2019s required by law,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nSome couples prefer the nikah-only marriage, which can be resolved without recourse to the courts if the relationship breaks down.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe Islamic marriage is easy. We don\u2019t need an imam, we don\u2019t need a registry office, we don\u2019t need a specific building, it\u2019s simple,\u201d said Dr. Haitham Al-Haddad, a British Muslim scholar who sits on the board of the Islamic Sharia Council. \u201cThe civil relationship, if they want to end their marriage, is a nightmare for both sides,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\nCouples seeking an Islamic divorce can arrange their affairs through sharia councils or local imams. Contrary to concerns that they provide a \u201cparallel legal system,\u201d these bodies have no jurisdiction in the UK, but have significant sway among British Muslim communities.<\/p>\n
\nWaiting outside Dr. Al-Haddad\u2019s office above the East London Mosque to discuss dissolving her 18-year marriage, Sumaiya Ali, whose name has also been changed to protect her identity, said this route is \u201ca lot easier\u201d and cheaper than going through the UK divorce courts. \u201cIt\u2019s good for me because I don\u2019t have to do that,\u201d said Ali.<\/p>\n
\nIn Islam, husbands can divorce their wives by saying the Arabic word \u201ctalaq\u201d \u2014 meaning repudiation or divorce \u2014 three times, but wives are required to obtain consent from their husbands to end the marriage. Failing that, the sharia council is a woman\u2019s only recourse for pursuing \u201ckhula\u201d \u2014 the Islamic procedure in which the wife initiates the divorce.<\/p>\n
\nBased on personal experience, Dr. Al-Haddad estimated that 75 to 80 percent of cases heard by Islamic councils in the UK are granted, but in other European countries where sharia councils are not available, women are \u201creally suffering because there are no bodies to end their marriages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nWith cuts to legal aid increasing the cost of civil divorce ceremonies, more British Muslim couples than ever are turning to sharia councils. In December 2016, the Casey Review on integration in UK communities suggested that the influence of sharia councils was growing and highlighted concerns over their \u201cdiscriminatory practices against women.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAcross the UK, \u201cexperiences of sharia courts vary vastly\u201d and while some provide the support women seek, there are \u201cundoubtedly instances\u201d where women\u2019s rights are compromised, said Sajda Mughal, CEO of the JAN Trust, a non-profit organization supporting marginalized women.<\/p>\n
\nSouthall Black Sisters, a non-profit organization representing ethnic minority women in London, believes there should be one law for all marriages in England and Wales. It cites \u201cincompetence\u201d, \u201cmaladministration\u201d and \u201cflagrant human rights abuses\u201d among the problems faced by women who use religious forums and tribunals to resolve family disputes.<\/p>\n
\nWhen Miah, 44, told her story to an east London sharia council, hoping it would help her retrieve the money due under the terms of her nikah marriage, she said the response was \u201cappalling.\u201d She was advised her to go back to the husband as the divorce had been \u201cEnglish\u201d rather than Islamic.<\/p>\n
\nHaving used Miah\u2019s documents to secure his right to remain in the UK and lived off her earnings during their marriage, her husband \u2014 a cousin on her father\u2019s side \u2014 began proceedings to bring a new wife over from Bangladesh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u201cHe invited a relative to the wedding \u2014 that\u2019s how I found out he had a second wife,\u201d said Miah. This was the last straw after being forced to marry a man 13 years her senior who she accused of marrying her to get a UK passport.<\/p>\n
\nFeeling let down by the law in the land of her birth as well as representatives of the faith she grew up with, Miah suffered a series of health and psychological setbacks.<\/p>\n
\nWorking with counsellors at Southall Black Sisters helped her to find stability, but she still feels hurt that her parents forced her to marry at the age of 12 when she was \u201cstill a little girl playing with my dolls.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nMore than 13 years after the divorce came through on March 16, 2005 \u2014 Miah\u2019s birthday \u2014 she is still trying to put the past behind her. \u201cWhen I see the date on the certificate, I think, that day I was born free and now on my birthday I am free again. I just look at it like that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Islamic marriage, English divorce: For growing numbers of British Muslim women, the results can be devastating LONDON: Farida Miah was still reeling from the shock of learning that her husband had taken a second wife when she found out he had divorced her and ended their 18-year marriage. Miah, a British citizen of Bangladeshi origin, … <\/p>\n
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