Islamic marriage, English divorce: For growing numbers of British Muslim women, the results can be devastating
Olivia
Cuthbert, Arab News, May 19, 2018
Rising
divorce rates among British Muslim communities have prompted questions over the
status of Islamic marriage — known in Arabic as “nikah” — in the UK. In 2017, a
survey by UK TV station Channel 4 of 1,000 British Muslim women found that
almost two-thirds had a nikah-only marriage.
 |
| Rising divorce rates among British Muslim communities have prompted questions over the status of Islamic marriage. |
LONDON:
Farida Miah was still reeling from the shock of learning that her husband had taken
a second wife when she found out he had divorced her and ended their 18-year
marriage.
Miah, a
British citizen of Bangladeshi origin, contacted a UK civil court and learned
that her husband had managed to bypass the dowry settlement due to her under the
terms of their Islamic marriage, leaving her with nothing.
“He has
all we owned,” said Miah, who lives in London and whose name has been changed
to protect her identity.
Her
problems arose because — like many Muslim women in the UK — she had “an Islamic
marriage, but an English divorce” via a British civil court. More than a decade
later, she is still struggling to put her life back together after finding
herself stuck between these conflicting cultural and legal codes.
“The UK
courts say there is nothing they can do — there is no law to help. Everywhere I
turned was blocked to me,” she told Arab News.
Rising
divorce rates among British Muslim communities have prompted questions over the
status of Islamic marriage — known in Arabic as “nikah” — in the UK. Lacking
formal legal recognition, it denies couples the protections available in civil
unions if the relationship breaks down.
“The
state only affords you rights through the institution of marriage, without that
you have no access to support,” said Samia Bano, a senior lecturer specializing
in Muslim family law at SOAS University of London, a leading institution for
Middle East studies. While the fallout can negatively affect both parties,
women, in particular, are “often left in precarious situations,” she said.
In 2017,
a survey by UK TV station Channel 4 of 1,000 British Muslim women found that
almost two-thirds had a nikah-only marriage and that more than a quarter did
not realize this meant they would be denied rights and protections they would
have had for a marriage union that was legally recognized.
For these
women, the discovery can be “devastating,” said Sarah Khan-Bashir, a lawyer
specializing in sharia divorce. “They think they’ve got all the rights that
husbands and wives should have, but they don’t, and they find out when it’s far
too late.”
One
client faced losing her home after her husband of 23 years died as she was
unable to produce proof that he had divorced his first wife. Khan-Bashir had to
explain to her that she was effectively a cohabitee with a nikah, news that
left the client shaking visibly.
Family
lawyer Siddique Patel said that nikah-only marriage is becoming more popular.
“Among the under-30s, a lot of Muslim men and women who were born and bred in
the UK are coming to us with unregistered marriages.”
Lack of
awareness is a major factor, but sometimes the wealthier partner — usually the
man — bypasses a civil ceremony to escape equal division of assets in a civil
divorce. “They’re scared 50:50 splits will happen,” Patel said, adding that
“women lose out more (often) than men.”
Patel is
part of the team behind the Register Our Marriage campaign, which is calling
for compulsory registration of all marriages and the reform of the 1949
Marriage Act to cover all faiths. This 69-year-old law is no longer “fit for
purpose” in a modern multicultural society, said Islamic law expert Aina Khan,
who launched the campaign. The Act only recognizes religious ceremonies
conducted in the Anglican, Quaker Christian and Jewish traditions.
Although
people of all other religions are affected, others tend to register, while the
campaign estimates that around 80 percent of newly married Muslims do not.
Dr. Ahmed
Al-Dubayan, director general of the Islamic Cultural Center and the London
Central Mosque, said UK Muslims need to have both ceremonies. “As British
citizens, or people living in the UK, we make the civil marriage a condition
because it’s required by law,” he said.
Some
couples prefer the nikah-only marriage, which can be resolved without recourse
to the courts if the relationship breaks down.
“The
Islamic marriage is easy. We don’t need an imam, we don’t need a registry
office, we don’t need a specific building, it’s simple,” said Dr. Haitham
Al-Haddad, a British Muslim scholar who sits on the board of the Islamic Sharia
Council. “The civil relationship, if they want to end their marriage, is a
nightmare for both sides,” he added.
Couples
seeking an Islamic divorce can arrange their affairs through sharia councils or
local imams. Contrary to concerns that they provide a “parallel legal system,”
these bodies have no jurisdiction in the UK, but have significant sway among
British Muslim communities.
Waiting
outside Dr. Al-Haddad’s office above the East London Mosque to discuss
dissolving her 18-year marriage, Sumaiya Ali, whose name has also been changed
to protect her identity, said this route is “a lot easier” and cheaper than
going through the UK divorce courts. “It’s good for me because I don’t have to
do that,” said Ali.
In Islam,
husbands can divorce their wives by saying the Arabic word “talaq” — meaning
repudiation or divorce — three times, but wives are required to obtain consent
from their husbands to end the marriage. Failing that, the sharia council is a
woman’s only recourse for pursuing “khula” — the Islamic procedure in which the
wife initiates the divorce.
Based on
personal experience, Dr. Al-Haddad estimated that 75 to 80 percent of cases
heard by Islamic councils in the UK are granted, but in other European
countries where sharia councils are not available, women are “really suffering
because there are no bodies to end their marriages,” he said.
With cuts
to legal aid increasing the cost of civil divorce ceremonies, more British
Muslim couples than ever are turning to sharia councils. In December 2016, the
Casey Review on integration in UK communities suggested that the influence of
sharia councils was growing and highlighted concerns over their “discriminatory
practices against women.”
Across
the UK, “experiences of sharia courts vary vastly” and while some provide the
support women seek, there are “undoubtedly instances” where women’s rights are
compromised, said Sajda Mughal, CEO of the JAN Trust, a non-profit organization
supporting marginalized women.
Southall
Black Sisters, a non-profit organization representing ethnic minority women in
London, believes there should be one law for all marriages in England and
Wales. It cites “incompetence”, “maladministration” and “flagrant human rights
abuses” among the problems faced by women who use religious forums and
tribunals to resolve family disputes.
When
Miah, 44, told her story to an east London sharia council, hoping it would help
her retrieve the money due under the terms of her nikah marriage, she said the
response was “appalling.” She was advised her to go back to the husband as the
divorce had been “English” rather than Islamic.
Having
used Miah’s documents to secure his right to remain in the UK and lived off her
earnings during their marriage, her husband — a cousin on her father’s side —
began proceedings to bring a new wife over from Bangladesh.
“He
invited a relative to the wedding — that’s how I found out he had a second
wife,” said Miah. This was the last straw after being forced to marry a man 13
years her senior who she accused of marrying her to get a UK passport.
Feeling
let down by the law in the land of her birth as well as representatives of the
faith she grew up with, Miah suffered a series of health and psychological
setbacks.
Working
with counsellors at Southall Black Sisters helped her to find stability, but
she still feels hurt that her parents forced her to marry at the age of 12 when
she was “still a little girl playing with my dolls.”
More than
13 years after the divorce came through on March 16, 2005 — Miah’s birthday —
she is still trying to put the past behind her. “When I see the date on the
certificate, I think, that day I was born free and now on my birthday I am free
again. I just look at it like that.”
