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In my experience most of the Shari'a Councils' work involves granting a khulla divorce to a wife whose husband refuses to give her a talaq divorce, thereby leaving her free to remarry.

In other words it is mostly Muslim women's rights which the Shari'a Councils protect ~ and it was mainly for this reason that they were first established in the UK some 50 years ago.

Just as the English civil courts do not have jurisdiction over the Jewish 'get' divorce which is dealt with by the Beth Din (first established in the UK some nine centuries ago), so the English civil courts do not have jurisdiction over either the talaq or the khulla divorce which is dealt with by the Shari'a Council ~ especially since English law does not recognise the Muslim nikah marriage as a valid marriage in the first place (unless it takes place overseas).

This means that Theresa May's 'one law for all' involves not recognising religious marriages and therefore not recognising religious divorces.

If the government curtails the Battei Dins' and the Shari'a Councils' jurisdiction over religious marriages in the Jewish and Muslim communities, then it will be discriminating directly against all Jewish and Muslim women who wish to bring their religious marriages to an end ~ and in the process denying their Article 9 rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 (which is presumably one of the unexpressed reasons why Mr Cameron wishes to get rid of it ~ it was never intended to give Muslims any legal protection!).

So presumably the government's enforcing statute may well be called the 'Leave 'Em in Limbo Act', with Muslims no doubt being exhorted to be tolerant of such intolerance.

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