Shariah law in Action
Imagine you are woman living in London, when your husband comes home after a bad day at work and decides to take out his frustrations on you, battering you so savagely that you end up in hospital. Ordinarily, you would call the police, report the attack and he would be charged with assault and possibly jailed, and you would be afforded some protection.
But if you and your husband are Muslim, it's possible that you will be pressured by family and friends or community leaders into allowing this violence to be dealt with in a local Islamic Sharia court where an imam will adjudicate. There, the result may well be that the aggressor is given no more than a mild reprimand, or just told to go to an anger management class, while his bruised wife is often required to go back and give her husband 'another chance'.
She will remain trapped in an abusive home without any of the protection, help or support available to other women. The misery that can be caused by Sharia law is illustrated by tragic cases such as this, which I have come across countless times during my work campaigning on this issue.
The women insist on remaining anonymous for fear of reprisals — another indicator of the climate of intimidation that sometimes exists. In so many ways, Sharia law treats women as second-class citizens, whether it be in inheritance rights or divorce.
According to Sharia law, for instance, a woman's word counts for only half the value of that of a man. Polygamy is also tolerated, with men allowed to take multiple wives. This attitude to women has devastating consequences for many women appearing before the Islamic courts.
One particularly disturbing case I witnessed involved a woman who had been repeatedly hospitalised by her abusive husband who was told by the Sharia courts to return to the family home, resulting in her suffering more violence.
The unfairness was compounded when her husband divorced her under civil law and married another wife from overseas, while at the same time refusing her permission to divorce him in the Sharia courts.
So she has been left in a tragic state of limbo, still 'married' to her abusive husband under Islamic law, even though he is living openly with his second wife in England.
In theory, abused Muslim women can resort to the British courts.
But such a course requires a knowledge of their rights and of the English language, both of which they often lack.
Moreover, even if they are aware of their rights, they may still face intimidation from their family and their community.
In one well-documented case, outlined in a book called The Imam's Daughter — by a young writer living in Britain called Hannah Shah — a woman tried to escape abuse in her household, only to be returned to her family by a 'culturally sensitive' social worker, resulting in even worse abuse.
The woman eventually managed to escape and is now in hiding in fear for her life.