Number 10 responds to ‘no sharia’ petition

12 January 2009 · 2 Comments

The UK government has responded to a petition about sharia being incorporated into UK law. The original petition read:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stop Islamic Sharia Law being used in Great Britain.

The most senior judge in England and Wales has said that aspects of Islamic sharia law could be used in the UK, provided they donâ€™t conflict with existing laws. I say that Islamic sharia law should not be used in the United Kingdom and the Prime Minister should do everything within his power to stop it being introduced.

and the government has responded:

Shariâ€™a law is the code of personal religious law governing the conduct of Muslims. It can extend into all aspects of peopleâ€™s lives â€“ personal, religious, family, civil and criminal.

Shariâ€™a law is not part of the law of England and Wales. The Government does not intend to change this position in relation to the whole or part of the United Kingdom. However, provided an activity prescribed by Shariâ€™a law does not contravene the law of England and Wales, there is nothing to prohibit it. Muslims can, for example, wear traditional dress and follow dietary rules. They are completely free to worship in the way that they want.

There can never be reliance on the fact that an act is permitted under Shariâ€™a law as a justification for committing what is, under the law of England and Wales, a criminal act. Nor, for example, could someone expect a civil court, in reaching a decision on a contractual case under English or Scottish law, to apply the principles of Shariâ€™a law.

Criminal matters, both small and serious, will always be heard in a Crown or Magistrateâ€™s Court in England and Wales, and in Sheriffâ€™s Courts in Scotland. The decisions made in an alternative court will not be recognised.

I’m not sure if this counts as a successful petition or not. The government seems to imply that, while decisions by self-imposed sharia “courts” are not legally binding, they won’t step in unless there is a criminal act under consideration.

For those of us that don’t subscribe to the personal opinions of self-recognised religious decision makers as legitimate makers of rules for living, this is a win in that islamic religious opinion will not be incorporated into the law and forced upon the rest of us. At least not in England and Wales, I don’t know if the same can be said about Scotland or Northern Ireland.

However, the issue remains that some muslims (what I might consider the more ‘enlightened’ subscribers of islam) may find decisions that they make for themselves being curtailed, whether they agree with the idea of sharia or not, especially if that involves pressure from family, friends or other muslims, especially those with influence within islamic ‘communities’, like imams.

This is most certainly not on in a modern (relatively enlightened) society like the UK.

One’s own life choices should be just that, muslim or not, and no self-appointed ‘authority’ (religious or otherwise) should be allowed to force one to do as they prescribe, or not do what they proscribe if they so choose.

I think I’m going to have to file this one under ‘partial success’.

Tags: <culture, government and politics, islam, legal, petition, response, sharia, UK>