nikah marriage and divorce

[BluebonicPlague]

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?

[NonnyMouse1337]

Children are under the custody of their mother till aged seven, then the custody goes to the father having taken the child’s wishes and feelings into account.

I grew up in Kuwait, and it was very common for Arab men to marry European and American women, and when the wife wanted a divorce, the father would threaten that she would lose custody of the children because Islamic law was on his side. Lots of women would choose to stay in very unhappy and abusive marriages because they didn't want to leave the children behind.
Some women managed to escape back to their home countries with the kids if they were still quite young, but there was always the possibility of the father and his relatives tracking them down in due course and kidnapping the children back to Kuwait, Saudi etc.

[Supersimkin2]

The problem is not so much with the rules, as the fact that they're easy to break with no comeback, and that's cultural, not religious.

[frazzledasarock]

And that’s why the laws of the land should be adhered to.

But it’s so easy to guilt women into giving up their rights, because the community colludes in it.

Nonny, I can well imagine. I wouldn’t marry and live in an Arab country for all the money in the world.

[Supersimkin2]

Neither would I. DF was offered several camels for me at one point.

Bloody cheek. Mind you, I was 8 and agreed delightedly, providing I could keep the camels in the garden in London.

Thing is, all cultures collude in shafting women - look at the CSA or whatever it's called. 70 per cent of absent fathers pay 0 maintenance.

[Her0utdoors]

There have been publicity campaigns on this subject. When I went to do what ever it is at the register office when we wanted to get married there were posters warning that a nikah offers no protection in the law, as well as a leaflet in the paperwork we took away.