PrintAugust 16, 2008
The Sham of Women's Rights Under the Shari'a
The United Kingdom is on taking a first step toward a parallel legal system for Muslims, and garnering applause for it.Both the Guardian and the Telegraph have recently lauded a new Muslim marriage contract drawn up by a group of British Muslim organizations as a breakthrough in Muslim women's rights in the UK. Urmee Khan of the Telegraph announced with unabashed aplomb: "Hailed as the biggest change in Sharia law in Britain for 100 years, a married Muslim couple will now have equal rights." And the Guardian's Samia Rahman claimed that "A new Islamic marriage contract sets aside cultural practices, giving women the rights they are due under sharia law". But if this new marriage contract was required to give Muslim women equal rights, how can these rights have already been enshrined in the shari'a? There are two important claims to distinguish here: that the shari'a gives women equal rights in marriage and divorce matters, and that this new contract is consistent...(Read Full Article)
