'Sharia courts are extending their reach'

Monday, 22 September 2008 01:00

Stephen Pollard writes in The Times (22 Sept), 'Last week, a variation on the “cry wolf” story emerged which, in its long-term impact, threatens to be far more dangerous to Western civilisation than any banking collapse'. The story he alludes to? News that Shari'a court decisions are enforceable through the county and High Courts.

'Sharia may not be enshrined in English law, but the real impact of Sharia is just as worrying', Pollard says.

He goes on to detail an inheritance case adjudicated upon by a Shari'a Court that netted females half the inheritance of their male relatives. 'In English law, the shares would have been equal', Pollard opines, ignoring that the shares would have been as equal or unequal as a father had stipulated them in his will and that an English court applying English law would have been obliged to uphold his wishes.

'We do not know what pressures were put on the women to accept the ruling. Peer pressure can be overpowering. And the very point of Western freedoms is to protect people against such unjust pressure', Pollard decries whilst ignoring the much longer presence of Jewish Beth Din arbitration courts in the UK. Whilst levelling criticism at the dispensation of allegedly unequal justice - despite the arbitration being a voluntary exercise - under Shari'a Courts, Pollard makes no mention of the Beth Din system. It would appear only Islamic arbitration, voluntarily sought, is unacceptable to Mr Pollard.

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