www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-51508974
The couple had an Islamic wedding ceremony in a west London restaurant in 1998 in the presence of an imam and about 150 guests, but no civil ceremony subsequently took place, despite Mrs Akhter repeatedly raising the issue.
They separated in 2016 and Mr Khan tried to block his wife's divorce petition two years ago on the basis they had not been legally married in the first place.
Am not Muslim so feel unqualified to comment much on this. But on first principles I wonder if
a) mostly, people assume nikah marriage is legal and protected under English law
b) mostly, people don't assume that and prefer to be governed by shariah law
c) people don't have a clue
d) actually some people do have a clue and don't care
Somehow, I suspect c) and d).
It's tragic if so. It means that some Muslim women are woefully unprotected when marriage breaks down. One solution might be to license imams to conduct marriage ceremonies, but that's not going to help people already stuck in damaging scenarios.
What should we be doing to improve matters?
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Feminism: Sex & gender discussions
nikah marriage and divorce
55 replies
BluebonicPlague · 15/02/2020 00:49
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