"Soft" Sharia in Britain

Submitted by DM Andy (United States), Dec 11, 2006 at 15:49

Agree with a lot of Paul Goodman's comments. However his comment of "None the less, even the implementation of soft sharia would mark, I think for the first time, one group of British citizens living under a different set of laws from other British citizens." is perhaps misleading for non-British readers.

Under English and Welsh law, any civil matter can be taken to any arbitration that both sides agree to be bound by. If both sides wish to go to the local mosque and get a decision based on sharia law, then the civil courts will enforce the decision.

An example of this is the London Beth Din, which hears civil cases between Orthodox Jews. That seems to work very well and there seems no reason why Sharia courts cannot work in much the same manner.

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