Islamic Sharia Law courts operating in West Midlands

Jul 5 2009 by Ben Goldby, Sunday Mercury

“Some are relatively small and putting an exact figure on them is difficult,” he told the Sunday Mercury. “There is no transparency. They don’t have to register at all.”

At the moment sharia courts are mostly based in local Mosques and community centres, deciding on financial disputes, divorce settlements and custody issues.

But the cases are heard behind closed doors, and women are not given the same legal status as men before the court.

Mr Maceoin added: “Among the rulings we find some that advise illegal actions and others that transgress human rights standards as applied by British courts.”

These “illegal fatwas” include rulings issued by Leicester sharia clinic Darul Iftaa.

Its website claims that sharia decisions are offered by Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari, who is described as a young traditionally trained scholar who has studied in different parts of the world, but who was born in Leicester.

The site advises husbands that they may coerce their wives into sex.

It states: “When a man calls his wife for sexual intimacy, she should come, even if she is busy in the cooking area.”

In another ruling, the site states: “As for the wife it is not permissible for her to leave her husband’s house without his consent. A wife who disobeys her husband, especially in leaving the house without his permission, is ‘disloyal’, based on a famous Quranic verse.”

The online clinic also warns Muslims against joining the Police, tells Muslim lawyers they should follow the sharia ahead of UK law, and tells one woman she cannot leave home without her husband’s consent.

Harsh edicts passed down by another online Midland sharia tribunal include banning a young man from working as a taxi driver and telling a Muslim woman not to have IVF treatment.

“Is it permissible for a Muslim woman to have fertility treatment using a donor egg from another Muslim or non-Muslim woman?” a questioner asks the Leicester-based online service Ask an Alim.

She is told: “Scholars dislike this practice. Other means should be sought.”

Online fatwas are also offered to Muslims by the IslamOnline service.

The site has a web forum for questions on sharia law, which outlines the code’s brutal punishment for the “crime” of homosexuality.

“Homosexuality is an abomination and a grave sin,” the website says.

“Different penalties exist for it: in the Hanafi school of thought, the homosexual is punished through harsh beating, and if he or she repeats the act, the death penalty is to be applied.”

IslamOnline, which runs an “Ask the Scholar” service, also advocates attacks on US and British troops, telling young Muslim men that “fighting against the enemies who are invading Muslim countries is a legal obligation”.