| Formation | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | to provide a viable alternative for the Muslim community seeking to resolve disputes in accordance with Islamic Law. [1] |
| Headquarters | Hijaz Manor, Watling Street, Nuneaton, CV11 6BE |
Region served | UK |
| Leader | Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi |
| Website | www |
The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal is a form of alternative dispute resolution which operates under the Arbitration Act 1996 which is available in England. It is one of a range of services (Islamic Sharia Council is another) for Muslims who wish to resolve disputes without recourse to the courts system. [2] According to Machteld Zee, the MAT differs from other Sharia councils in that their ‘core business’ is arbitrating commercial disputes under the Arbitration Act 1996. [3]
The tribunals were set up by lawyer Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi and operate in London, Bradford, Manchester, Birmingham and Nuneaton. Two more were originally planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh. [4] Rulings can be enforced in England and Wales by both the County Courts and the High Court. The media have described a system of Islamic Sharia courts which have the power to rule in civil cases. [4] [ dead link ] As of 2008, the courts had dealt with around 100 cases dealing with issues such as inheritance and nuisance neighbours. [4] [ dead link ]
The MAT operates under Section 1 of the Arbitration Act which states that: “the parties should be free to agree how their disputes are resolved, subject only to such safeguards as are necessary in the public interest”. [5] As such it operates within the framework of English law and does not constitute a separate Islamic legal system. Under the Act they are deemed to be "arbitration tribunals". [4] [ dead link ]
The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal has no powers to grant a divorce which is valid in English and Welsh law. [5] [6] A talaq can be granted to recognise divorce. [5] [6] A sharia marriage has no bearing on personal status under UK law. [7] The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal has no jurisdiction on criminal matters but can attempt reconciliation between spouses.
Former MP Dominic Grieve has stated: “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." [4] [ dead link ]
An e-petition to the UK government to prohibit and criminalise sharia courts received over 15,000 signatures. The government issued a response, stating that sharia rulings are only permitted if legal under UK law. [8]
Sharia is a religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the Hadith. In Arabic, the term sharīʿah refers to God's immutable divine law and is contrasted with fiqh, which refers to its human scholarly interpretations. The manner of its application in modern times has been a subject of dispute between Muslims and Secularists.
Divorce is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the bonds of matrimony between a married couple under the rule of law of the particular country or state. Divorce laws vary considerably around the world, but in most countries, divorce requires the sanction of a court or other authority in a legal process, which may involve issues of distribution of property, child custody, alimony, child visitation / access, parenting time, child support, and division of debt. In most countries, monogamy is required by law, so divorce allows each former partner to marry another person.
Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place. In legal terminology, an annulment makes a void marriage or a voidable marriage null.
Uniform Civil Code is a proposal in India to formulate and implement secular personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally regardless of their religion. Personal laws are distinguished from public law and cover marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance. Currently, personal laws of various communities are governed by their religious scriptures which means that each citizen and their civil matters are treated differently before the law. This goes against the principle of equality before the law. Implementation of a uniform civil code is enshrined in Article 44 of the Indian Constitution which reads "The State endeavour to secure the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India". The implementation of Uniform Civil Code and the pursuit of fulfilling the Directive Principles of State Policy has been a demand of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the proponents of Hindutva. It is an important issue regarding secularism in Indian politics and continues to remain disputed by conservative Muslim groups and sects in defence of sharia who wish to continue keeping a separate law for different religions.
A Qadi is the magistrate or judge of a Sharia court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions, such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works.
Marion Boyd is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1999 who represented the riding of London Centre. She served as a member of cabinet in the government of Bob Rae. She works as a consultant and mediator.
Divorce in Islam can take a variety of forms, some initiated by the husband and some initiated by the wife. The main traditional legal categories are talaq (repudiation), khulʿ, judicial divorce and oaths. The theory and practice of divorce in the Islamic world have varied according to time and place. Historically, the rules of divorce were governed by sharia, as interpreted by traditional Islamic jurisprudence, though they differed depending on the legal school, and historical practices sometimes diverged from legal theory. In modern times, as personal status (family) laws were codified, they generally remained "within the orbit of Islamic law", but control over the norms of divorce shifted from traditional jurists to the state.
Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi is a Muslim scholar, principal of the Hijaz College, National Convenor of the Muslim Action Committee (MAC), Secretary General of the International Muslims Organisation, Grand Blessed Guide of the Naqshbandi Hijazi Sufi Order and a barrister at law.
Faisal Kutty is a lawyer, academic, writer, public speaker and human rights activist. He served as an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and is an Associate Professor of Law Emeritus at Valparaiso University. He has previously taught at Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law of Barry University and guest lectured at dozens of universities around North America.
The Islamic Sharia Council (ISC) is a British organisation that provides legal rulings and advice to Muslims in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic Sharia based on the four Sunni schools of thought. It primarily handles cases of marriage and divorce and, to a lesser extent, business and finance. Thousands of Muslims have turned to the Council to resolve family and financial issues. The Economist magazine states it has offered rulings to "thousands of troubled families since the 1980s", the council states that it has dealt with an average of between 200 and 300 cases monthly as of January 2012.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), or external dispute resolution (EDR), typically denotes a wide range of dispute resolution processes and techniques that parties can use to settle disputes, with the help of a third party. They are used for disagreeing parties who cannot come to an agreement short of litigation. However, ADR is also increasingly being adopted as a tool to help settle disputes alongside the court system itself.
Polygamy and civil polygamous marriages are legal in Bangladesh but restricted according to a law of 1961, though the practice is rapidly declining. An estimated 10% of Bangladeshi men are in polygamous marriage, much lower than the average rate found in other nations that permit polygamy. Certain cities have also placed hefty taxes on the practice of polygamy, with the tax increasing per each new wife the man takes. A Bangladeshi Muslim man can marry only to a single person. There is no known limit for the number of wives a Hindu man can take in Bangladesh.
A ban on sharia law is legislation that prohibits the application or implementation of Islamic law (Sharia) in courts in any civil (non-religious) jurisdiction. In the United States, various states have "banned Sharia law," or passed some kind of ballot measure that "prohibits the state’s courts from considering foreign, international or religious law." As of 2014 these include Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee. In the Canadian province of Ontario, family law disputes are arbitrated only under Ontario law.
The legal system of Saudi Arabia is based on Sharia, Islamic law derived from the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The sources of Sharia also include Islamic scholarly consensus developed after Muhammad's death. Its interpretation by judges in Saudi Arabia is influenced by the medieval texts of the literalist Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence. Uniquely in the Muslim world, Sharia has been adopted by Saudi Arabia in an uncodified form. This, and the lack of judicial precedent, has resulted in considerable uncertainty in the scope and content of the country's laws. The government therefore announced its intention to codify Sharia in 2010, and, in 2018, a sourcebook of legal principles and precedents was published by the Saudi government. Sharia has also been supplemented by regulations issued by royal decree covering modern issues such as intellectual property and corporate law. Nevertheless, Sharia remains the primary source of law, especially in areas such as criminal, family, commercial and contract law, and the Qur'an and the Sunnah are declared to be the country's constitution. In the areas of land and energy law the extensive proprietorial rights of the Saudi state constitute a significant feature.
The Law of Nigeria consists of courts, offences, and various types of laws. Nigeria has its own constitution which was established on 29 May 1999. The Constitution of Nigeria is the supreme law of the country. There are four distinct legal systems in Nigeria, which include English law, Common law, Customary law, and Sharia Law. English law in Nigeria is derived from the colonial Nigeria, while common law is a development from its post colonial independence.
Since the early Islamic states of the eighth and ninth centuries, Sharia always existed alongside other normative systems.
The legal system of the United Arab Emirates is based on the civil law system with influences from Islamic, French, Roman and Egyptian laws.
The judicial system of the United Arab Emirates is based on the Constitution of the United Arab Emirates. It is a dual system as it has local and federal courts with a Supreme Court based at Abu Dhabi.
Shari'ah or Islamic law is partially implemented in the legal system of the Philippines and is applicable only to Muslims. Shari'ah courts in the country are under the supervision of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
The Code of Muslim Personal Laws is a legislation in the Philippines covering Muslims in the country which came into effect through Presidential Decree No. 1083 in 1977.
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