Muslim reformers expose scandal of undocumented British marriages

Women will continue to face abuse and even murder unless cultural practices surrounding undocumented  marriages are addressed. 

Twelve women on average per year in Britain are murdered at their parents’ behest for refusing to accept an arranged marriage, it has emerged.

Shocking statistics from the lawless interface of modern and migrant Britain undergird reforms of the legitimacy and quality of marriage.

Reformers took another small step forward this week with the launch of a new website promoting a written contract of marriage.

None exists in Britain, although the use of such contracts is widespread elsewhere in the Muslim world.

Eight thousand people downloaded the prototype contract from the Muslim Parliament website over the past two years, which so far has moral but not legal force.

Now the new site, launched by the Muslim Institute with the Muslim Women’s Network at City Circle in Edgware, London on Friday night (1 July), will provide a more public debating point as Britain’s Muslim women seek more say over their marriages.

Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, widely respected Director of the Institute, and who began discussion on reforms in 2004, said daughters were being treated as the property of their parents, who could dispose of them in marriage without consideration as to compatibility.

‘Hundreds of marriages which are mismatched lead to domestic violence which leads to break up. 

‘Those daughters who refuse to follow the plan laid down by the parents are killed.

‘Twelve murders have taken place per year of these women who refuse to follow the plan laid down by their parents.’

Women who cross the 18 age threshold would now be empowered to take decisions for their own future.

Britain is one of the few countries in the world where a majority of Muslim marriages are neither registered with the state, nor agreed in writing.

The new contract gives proof in writing of the marriage, and clarifies the rights and responsibilities of the spouses, establishing what the parties have agreed as to joint decision-making. 

It also makes it clear that multiple marriages are unlawful in Britain. 

Copies of the contract are provided to both spouses, and one is kept in the mosque.

Time bomb

Up to 80 per cent of Muslim marriages in Britain are not documented or registered.  ‘It’s creating a time bomb’,  Aina Khan, Senior Consultant Solicitor at Russell Jones and Walker, told the gathering.  

Relationships without legal recognition maintained a condition of Victorian servitude for women who are regarded as chattels, she said.

Yet classical and historical sources indicate that the lack of a contract in modern British Islam is the exception not the rule.

Sheikh Barkatullah, an Islamic Shariah Advisor, said cultural practices from poor parts of the Muslim world from which many Muslims have migrated to Britain are being perceived as religious duties.

‘We are trying to detangle them in this clearly laid-down contract.  Many cultural practices are being imposed as if they were a divine command, so we are trying to spell out the difference.’

Case studies undertaken by Lapido Media and used on the new contract website, indicate that women are widely misled about their lack of legal status in a marriage, and stand to lose their home, children and community support without redress . 

The MWN also has evidence that shariah councils to whom they may go for help more often take the husband’s side.

Cassandra Balchin, Chair of the Muslim Women’s Network, and an expert on women’s rights around the Muslim world, is puzzled about the failure to invoke a written contract in Britain.

‘Even this written contract is not an enforceable document in Britain.  But it is a traditional practice everywhere. 

‘There are scholars who have researched historical marriage documents in the Ottoman courts. In Iran, there are elaborate calligraphic marriage documents that would be put on the walls as a beautiful picture.  In Canada, everybody registers their marriages.  Why is it a battle here?  Something very strange is going on.’

Although the contract is a secular document, the website is at pains to emphasise its Islamic credentials, invoking what it calls the ‘Qur’anic vision of marriage as a relationship of mutual love, mercy and kindness’.  Relevant concepts endorsed in the contract are even translated into Arabic - mawaddah, rahmah, sukun to encourage confidence.

Dr Siddiqui told the launch: ‘It was very reassuring that despite our detractors in the media who called this “revolutionary”, we were following Islam.’

Faeese Vaid, Women’s Coordinator of the Muslim Women’s Network does have a contract.  She said: ‘It is definitely a tool to start a discussion, and it’s good to see something like this on a website in the public domain where we can have input on it.  It is just not right to have something as important as a marriage not written down.’

Previous coverage:

http://www.lapidomedia.com/new-model-muslim-marriage-contract

http://www.lapidomedia.com/government-fails-muslim-women