Do we allow Sharia law in this country?

This is just wrong.

The system of codifying and interpreting and applying the rules in Catholicism is Canon law. Decisions are made by 'judges' sitting in 'Tribunals', and there are differing levels of tribunal depending on the stage of a case and the issue at hand.

Anglicanism has similar judicial sounding terminology around its ecclesiastical system. As does Judaism - the beth din translates as 'House of Judgment', and the Beth Din in London is styled explicitly as the Court of the Chief Rabbi.

Religions referring to their rules as laws, and referring to the structures that apply or interpret their rules in judicial terms, is really common.

But they're not giving legal advice relating to the law of the country they live in. They are giving advice on the teachings of a religion.

Are you under the impression that all those who give advice about religious teachings need to legally qualified? Or just Muslims?

Seriously????
Darts clubs are covered by Equality Act. The difference is in the name. Sharia LAW.

If you take the religious bit out of it (which usually immediately solves most situations) then what is the difference between a community of muslims wanting to solve their disputes under their own club rules and (for example) your local darts club wanting to solve it's disputes under "club rules" ?

Some posters are very quick to say the mere suggestion of shariah law in the UK must be racist misinfo.

The truth is more interesting, and at least a few posters have linked to a govt report on it.

If you mean: can shariah law override UK law here, the answer is no. If you mean: will the UK courts enforce decisions reached on shariah principles by a Muslim arbitrator the answer is yes. The parties must have agreed to be bound by the decision though. Similar for Beth Din, etc.

I think it’s fair (not necessarily racist) to see that as a bad thing, if you either think shariah law is especially pernicious or object to church-state blurring in general. Obviously we have church-state blurring in the UK all over, but it’s still reasonable to dislike it.

‘So a Catholic tribunal might require applicants to be Canon lawyers but but legally qualified in UK law.’

There is no such thing as a Catholic ( I presume you mean Roman Catholic ) tribunal. Roman Catholics living in any country are expected by the Church to abide by the laws of that country. The Church gives guidance to the conscience of its members, so it will ‘prohibit’ for example abortion or the remarriage of divorced couples. If a member of the Church decides to do either of these things, the Church has the right to withhold Communion from them, just as any organisation can restrict the access of someone who has not abided by the rules of the Club. ( Think offside and arguing with the REf).

There is no tribunal, because there is nothing to argue about in a legal sense. You obey the laws of the country where you live or are visiting, if you think those laws are morally wrong you can campaign for a secular alteration.

• ‘Purpose:
• Canon law serves to guide the church in its internal affairs, ensuring order, consistency, and adherence to its teachings and traditions. It also plays a role in shaping the moral and spiritual lives of its members.

This is rather different from a parallel system of civil law which is in some cases directly contrary to the Law of the country, for example relating to polygamy and forced marriage.

It's entirely reasonable for members of a religion to have experienced people deciding how the rules of that religion apply to individual cases.

Ban sharia councils and I imagine what happens is Muslims start making up their own interpretations of Islamic law ad hoc, which is probably worse for many affected individuals and certainly less fair. They don't all magically shift to following secular western morality instead.

I don't support a lot of things Islam teaches but you don't get anywhere by just banning stuff.

This isn't just a Muslim (or Jewish) thing though what it looks like is different in different contexts. Churches have mechanisms for dealing with people who don't live their lives as expected (admittedly some more developed than others, and many existing more "in principle" than in practice). Most denominations don't generally refer to their rules as "law", although some do (including Anglicanism). Secular organisations, too, will usually have ways of ensuring people live up to certain standards. Your employer has them. Your children's school has them. The Labour party has them. The Football Association has them.

Basically any group of people is going to need ways of regulating the behaviour of that group and once you start trying to interfere with that you are in danger of getting into big trouble.

I pointed out above that Mosques and Imams can like Cof E etc register marriages but most of them don't. The reason can only be that they want Sharia Law on marriage to trump the secular law.

1. By permitting the existence of Sharia councils and other parallel legal systems Britain is failing to meet its obligations to gender equality in marriage and family relations . Article 16 1. of CEDAW on marriage and family relations:

Of course anyone giving legal advice should know the law of the country they live in! Where religious teachings are in conflict with the law of the land, eg on women’s rights or child safeguarding, the adviser must not give their clients the impression that it’s ok to break the law.

Forgot to quote you in my last message @PhilippaGeorgiou I’ve quoted it here

I don’t think i said that women have it that good… I said you should check out women’s own personal testimony. If you would have taken two minutes to read the personal testimonies from women you would understand just how greatly they differ. Do UK courts force women to stay married when they are in a forced, underage marriage? Does UK law deny women inheritance? Force people to stay married when there’s domestic abuse? Does it put women into ‘seclusion’ where they are not allowed to leave their house, not even to enter their garden? Does it tell women it’s not marital rape if they are withholding sex? Does it tell women who are victims of FGM that they’re not meeting their husbands needs and so that is why they were a victim of abuse? Would it then give him custody of all of the children based on that? Would UK law force you to stay in a marriage where your husband is a polygamist?

The Uk law system has its own faults, but you are comparing apples to oranges here.

shutting down discussions and critiques of Sharia law by labelling dialogue as ‘racism’ and ‘discrimination’ is no different from when critiques of trans ideology were shut down due to ‘transphobia’ and ‘bigotry’

There is absolutely no doubt that sharia law is bad for women, and it doesn’t make me or anyone else racist to point that out.

Do you want to be make to cover your hair?

Do you want to receive only 50% of the inheritance your male family members would receieve?

Do you went to be raped by your husband and it be fine?

Do you want to be in a position where it is difficult to divorce your husband, but easy for him to divorce you?

Do you want your testimony to be worth half that of a man’s?

Do you want to be punished for being raped?

I could go on.

Yes the UK law system supercedes, but these ideologies are harmful to women, and just shrugging them off as ‘diversity’ is, I believe, racist in itself because it sees some women as having to accept less rights due to their ethnicity.

In Ireland people getting married in a Catholic Church do not need to go to a registry office. Many do not realise that the religious bit is combined with the legal civil bit as that is what is allowed by the state. When you sign the registry (normally in a side room) after the 'I do' bit in the main church you are signing the legal bit. The 'I do' is also part of this. I got married in a civil ceremony in Ireland, at the time very unusual, many at our own wedding were confused as to whether we were actually really married because we didn't get married in church !

This rule also applies to other religions.

Why don't you try checking reality if you think women have it that good?

This.

Whether anyone likes it or not this type of roles are necessary. They exist for other faiths too.

Things like marriage. Until the late 1980s/1990s if you got married in anything other than a of E church or a registry office your marriage wasn't legal unless you had a registrar attend to do the written part.

A lot of people had a registry office ceremony the day before their religious one, whether you were RC, Jewish, Muslims, Sikh, Quaker, whatever.

A Muslim marriage is a Nikkah, it is not recognised in English law (not sure about Scotland) so unless you have a registry office wedding or you are in a place licenced for a wedding with a civil registrar.

But if you have a Nikkah in Pakistan then register it in the UK then it is legally recognised, as long as there are only two people in the marriage.

I have no idea about other countries, but this is the kind of thing the job is advertising for someone to take on.

Some people take their faith very seriously and treat the restrictions of their faith as seriously as the law of the land.

Can't The see where Islam is being discriminated against. It has the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT)

The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT)
Sharia councils are not the only groups dealing with Muslim divorces. The MAT is a separate
entity from sharia councils which has existed since the early 2000s and operates under the
Arbitration Act 1996 to provide binding arbitration services for commercial issues. Decisions at the
MAT can be enforced through the formal courts on the basis the contract meets certain standards
and it does not prescribe any activities which would contravene the law of England and Wales.
In order to enforce a decision legally it must be reviewed by a legally qualified judge.
The MAT received media attention when evidence was published that indicated that it may
exceed its mandate by arbitrating issues outside of their commercial jurisdiction such as
arrangements for children and domestic violence.1
This review visited the MAT and heard
evidence about its practices and the differences between itself and sharia councils.
The MAT indicated that only 10% of its workload was concerned with family matters; of that
70% was the granting of Islamic divorces. The vast majority of their work is commercial
arbitration. However, the overwhelming majority of people seeking divorce are going to sharia
councils rather than the MAT.

Jewish and Sharia religious courts in the UK, known as Beth Din and Sharia councils respectively, operate differently despite both being based on religious law. Beth Dins, within the Jewish community, can make legally binding rulings in civil disputes when both parties agree to arbitration under the Arbitration Act. Sharia councils, within the Muslim community, do not have legal jurisdiction in the UK and their decisions are not legally binding. I.e why the fuss around the one and not the other....

English courts, of course, do no such thing. Rapists are always convicted, women are always believed, and there is parity of outcomes between men and women in all their dealings with the law.

But if the English do it, then it isn't as bad is it?

In Scotland, a marriage can be conducted by a religious celebrant and registered at the same time as long as the correct paperwork is completed and the celebrant is authorised. So many Muslim couples have both the Nikah and the registered civil marriage at the same time. They still need to go through both an Islamic divorce for religious reasons and a civil divorce to be legally divorced.
England and Scotland have different legal systems so it doesn’t make sense to talk about Britain or the U.K. in this context.

But it is unusual, and there is no good reason why Imam's should not, like Christian priests, be allowed to be registrants.

They are allowed to be registrants. Doesn't mean they'll want to be. Catholics are similar. I've never been to a Catholic wedding where the priest was the registrant, even though they could be.

Why don’t you try reading some of the personal testimonies from the 1st link before attempting to compare them?

Faith and the legal framework which evolved from it are different are they not?

I have travelled to Islamic countries and took the time to gain an oversight of the law and how Faith influences to cultural norms and if that would require me to adapt.

But in most countries ( which accept that some citizens or visitors live a "secular" lifestyle) understand the main Faith not the only Faith. So if it is important they modify the legal framework for a more equal society

And no matter where one is if one chooses to interact with people or places of faith or if one chooses to discuss someones faith with them or enter into a relationship etc. its important to be open to learning and not think that Faith is a one size fits all.

“From those that gave evidence to the review panel, no one disputed that sharia councils engage in practices which are discriminatory to women.”

English courts, of course, do no such thing. Rapists are always convicted, women are always believed, and there is parity of outcomes between men and women in all their dealings with the law.

The answer is very little if you are talking about what most people think of as Sharia law. Sharia is really a code of conduct which provides guidance on living the Muslim life. Think of it more like an elaborate Ten Commandments and you are closer to what it entails. It is fluid and varies over time and from place to place based on different cultures and periods in history. Most people are only familiar with it in limited contexts around controversial practices like corporal / capital punishment and/ or the unequal treatment of women in certain interpretations, but these are not universally accepted, and in fact many schools of thought consider those applications to be counter to the Quran teachings. Like any text, you can make it mean what you want it to mean if you are so inclined. That is not about Islam, that is about power.