Beorn
07-23-2009, 02:47 PM
MORE people are turning to Islamic sharia courts because Muslims do not want to use any other form of legal process, it was claimed yesterday.
The number of controversial legally-binding hearings has rocketed in recent years with their number predicted to triple within five months.
The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal claims five per cent of its dealings involve non-Muslims because the process is less cumbersome than English law and oral agreements can be made.
Anti-sharia campaigners claim many non-Muslims feel bullied into sharia courts by Muslims with whom they are in dispute.
There are currently 85 Muslim courts operating openly at community centres and Muslim holy schools in parallel to British law.
But hundreds more courts are believed to be operating underground from front rooms dealing with more extreme matters such as the halting of homosexuality, adultery and physical assaults.
Now the tribunal has announced its intention to triple the number of UK sharia courts by setting up in 10 new British cities by the end of the year.
It will expand its *network *further by acting as an advisory body to dozens of other Islamic courts, with the intention of achieving national consensus over rulings and procedures, *creating, in effect Britain’s largest national co-operative of tribunalsin an attempt to legitimise Sharia.
Douglas Murray, Director Of The Centre For Social Cohesion, warned the unabated drive towards the full introduction of sharia law must be stopped.
He said: “If the Government can’t see what is happening then they must be blind. At best the people driving this are ultra-conservative Muslims but at worst they are radical extremists.
“No modern-thinking Muslim wants sharia law introduced in Britain and it is also bemusing to older generations.
“It is something being driven by a minority of people with their own agenda and is being allowed to gather pace with support from the Government. It’s a terrifying situation for Muslims who want to escape sharia rule elsewhere and for the country at large.”
The tribunal, which has legal legitimacy under the Arbitration Act 1996, already operates in London, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester and Nuneaton, Warwickshire. New locations are likely to include Leeds, Luton, Blackburn, Stoke and Glasgow.
Freed Chedie, spokesman for MAT founder and barrister Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, said: “We would train most of the imams so that a lady in Glasgow would receive the same form of service as a lady in London.
“There is hysterical and inherent prejudice against sharia, but the overwhelming opinion of the judiciary is that English law and sharia are compatible. It is only people on the right of the political spectrum who scaremonger.”
Mr Chedie argued that the legitimacy of MAT was further enhanced because non-Muslims had started to use it.
But anti-sharia campaigner Denis MacEoin, who wrote a recent report for think-tank *Civitas, said: “What advantages could that possibly have for them going to an Islamic court?
“Any sharia court is going to be implementing aspects of a law that runs contrary to British law because of the way it treats women, for example.”
Source (http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/115499/Now-non-Muslims-seek-justice-at-the-sharia-courts)
I wonder how much "scaremongering" would go on in his homeland if we decided to relocate en-masse and enforce our own forms of justice?
I somehow couldn't see him remaining calm and unfettered, can you?
The number of controversial legally-binding hearings has rocketed in recent years with their number predicted to triple within five months.
The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal claims five per cent of its dealings involve non-Muslims because the process is less cumbersome than English law and oral agreements can be made.
Anti-sharia campaigners claim many non-Muslims feel bullied into sharia courts by Muslims with whom they are in dispute.
There are currently 85 Muslim courts operating openly at community centres and Muslim holy schools in parallel to British law.
But hundreds more courts are believed to be operating underground from front rooms dealing with more extreme matters such as the halting of homosexuality, adultery and physical assaults.
Now the tribunal has announced its intention to triple the number of UK sharia courts by setting up in 10 new British cities by the end of the year.
It will expand its *network *further by acting as an advisory body to dozens of other Islamic courts, with the intention of achieving national consensus over rulings and procedures, *creating, in effect Britain’s largest national co-operative of tribunalsin an attempt to legitimise Sharia.
Douglas Murray, Director Of The Centre For Social Cohesion, warned the unabated drive towards the full introduction of sharia law must be stopped.
He said: “If the Government can’t see what is happening then they must be blind. At best the people driving this are ultra-conservative Muslims but at worst they are radical extremists.
“No modern-thinking Muslim wants sharia law introduced in Britain and it is also bemusing to older generations.
“It is something being driven by a minority of people with their own agenda and is being allowed to gather pace with support from the Government. It’s a terrifying situation for Muslims who want to escape sharia rule elsewhere and for the country at large.”
The tribunal, which has legal legitimacy under the Arbitration Act 1996, already operates in London, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester and Nuneaton, Warwickshire. New locations are likely to include Leeds, Luton, Blackburn, Stoke and Glasgow.
Freed Chedie, spokesman for MAT founder and barrister Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, said: “We would train most of the imams so that a lady in Glasgow would receive the same form of service as a lady in London.
“There is hysterical and inherent prejudice against sharia, but the overwhelming opinion of the judiciary is that English law and sharia are compatible. It is only people on the right of the political spectrum who scaremonger.”
Mr Chedie argued that the legitimacy of MAT was further enhanced because non-Muslims had started to use it.
But anti-sharia campaigner Denis MacEoin, who wrote a recent report for think-tank *Civitas, said: “What advantages could that possibly have for them going to an Islamic court?
“Any sharia court is going to be implementing aspects of a law that runs contrary to British law because of the way it treats women, for example.”
Source (http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/115499/Now-non-Muslims-seek-justice-at-the-sharia-courts)
I wonder how much "scaremongering" would go on in his homeland if we decided to relocate en-masse and enforce our own forms of justice?
I somehow couldn't see him remaining calm and unfettered, can you?