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To Anonymous (like me, without a 'p'!) at 6.50 pm:

The matter is not quite as simple as you portray it, the reason being that many nikah marriages are not conducted in a mosque which could be registered pursuant to the Marriage Act. Nikah marriages often take place in a hotel or a home.

The possibility of registering the person who conducts the nikah ceremony (not the place where it is celebrated) is already being tested, successfully, in Scotland, but not yet in England.

The other problem is inherent in the current legal definition of marriage as expressed explicitly or implicitly in the civil ceremony, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

In contrast, as a nikah is a marriage contract made in accordance with the Shari'a of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, a Muslim man is permitted to marry up to four wives, provided that there is no compulsion or deception involved and provided that he is able to treat his wives equally and maintain them and their children equally.

This means that the basis of a civil marriage is different to the basis of a nikah marriage – and celebrating both one after the other does involve an inherent contradiction (although in practice most Muslim men do find that caring for one wife and their children is amply sufficient and sometimes more than enough!).

It is for this reason that I have always proposed that English law should simply recognise Muslim personal law (marriages, divorces, inheritance) as it already does concerning overseas jurisdictions which recognise Muslim personal law.

In a nutshell, if it is recognised as legally valid there, it is already recognised as legally valid here. So to recognise it as legally valid here, without the already legally valid there precondition, would not be taking such a large step.

Such a domestic recognition of Muslim personal law would necessarily entail an amendment to the law of bigamy which currently criminalises concurrent marriages to more than one woman (even when the wives concerned and their children are properly maintained and cared for by the husband) – whilst permitting a man as many mistresses as he wishes, (even if he deceives, neglects and abandons them).

It is existentially possible to have a marital situation which, for example, involves a man and two women – but experience has shown that this is only successful in the long term where there is no compulsion or deception involved and where responsibilities are willingly shouldered and fulfilled.