Posted on 09/20/2008 6:17:01 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
It’s been described by one commentator as an example of Great Britain ‘surrendering’ itself and the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams was criticised for saying it will happen, but whatever the reaction, Islamic law now officially operates in the UK.
Whereas before rulings by sharia courts in Britain could only be enforced if all parties in a Muslim civil case agreed to abide by them, now what the courts say will be legally binding, backed by county courts or the High Court.
The five sharia courts are Birmingham, Bradford, London and Manchester with others planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh. They will be run by the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal whose Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi said: "We realised that under the Arbitration Act [1996] we can make rulings which can be enforced by county and high courts. The act allows disputes to be resolved using alternatives like tribunals."
Muslim tribunal courts have been running since August 2007, hearing cases of divorce, domestic violence and much more. Jewish Beth Din courts have been in the UK for over 100 years.
However, Siddiqi admitted that the courts can favour men, with several cases of domestic violence ending with husbands receiving little punishment other than being made to take an anger management course. In every case, the women later withdrew their claims.
Tory shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve was amazed that sharia law had been made legally binding. "If it is true that these tribunals are passing binding decisions in the areas of family and criminal law, I would like to know which courts are enforcing them because I would consider such action unlawful. British law is absolute and must remain so."
And Douglas Murray, the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, said: "I think it’s appalling. I don’t think arbitration that is done by sharia should ever be endorsed or enforced by the British state."
Britain already had Beth Din courts for Jews for quite some time. I think they probably opened the door to the current mess when they established those, so long ago. Britain should act by British law and, where British law hasn’t been established, common law. This is applicable to the USA (The Constitution and pursuant laws) and its states.
In other words you will never set foot in England again.
Nope. Both are gonna happen someday.
Prediction: Obama will call for MASSIVE increases in immigration from Islamic countries. In the name of tolerance and understanding, mind you.
Yep , we’re only a few years away here as well. It’s been Islams plan all along to populate and infiltrate.Most people have their heads in the sand , I don’t get it ,it’s suicidal.
I agree, and suspect from the looks of Middle East political alignments it won’t be long now...and can’t happen soon enough for me.
Yeah, it’s weird, I’d like it to happen soon, but if it does, think of all the people who aren’t going to have time to get saved. You kind of want more time so that everyone possible gets saved, but at the same time you want to see things finally get set right.
See also
February 08, 2008 Good News! Shari'a Law in Texas! Assalam aleikum, y'all! The Second Court of Appeals of the State of Texas has rendered a ruling on the enforceability of shari'a judgments rendered by imams. According to the Texas appeals court, it's all good. You've heard of the Texas Courts. Ladies and gentlemen, make way for the Texas Islamic Courts!!! The parties will ask the courts to refer the cases for arbitration to Texas Islamic court within "Seven Days" from the establishment of the Texas Islamic Court panel of Arbitrators. The assignment must include ALL cases, including those filed against or on behalf of other family members related to the parties. Each party will notify the other party, Texas Islamic Court, and their respective attorneys, in writing of the assignment of all the above Cause Numbers from the above appropriate District Court to Texas Islamic Court. In general, private arbitration agreements are enforceable by government courts. Shari'a arbitration agreements are one type of private arbitration agreement. Without a theory as to why shari'a arbitration agreements shouldn't be enforced by the courts, I'm not sure what else the appeals court could have done in this case. Still, this is not a welcome development.
No skippy, this is legally-enforcable arbitration. The Sharia Courts are exploiting the provisions under the 1996 Arbitration Act, which gives any body that declares itself an arbitration panel the right to decide on certain civil cases as long as both parties consent to allow that panel to decide on their dispute.
There is not going to be stonings, amputations or beheadings sanctioned by these bodies. Or if there are, the ‘judges’ are going to prison...
You make my point. In other Islamic countries, "civil" issues such as divorces and/or divorces as a result of adultery, end in someone getting killed. I have a hard time using "civil" and "Islam" in the same thought. Skippy? Lighten up Frances, I was trying to make a point that this may become a slippery slope. When is this crap coming to the US?
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