Muslim Family Law in Europe

Abstract

It is now well over twenty years since a conference was held in Birmingham at the initiative of the Union of Muslim Organizations of the UK and Eire (UMO) on the subject of recognition of Shari’ah family law. Less than two years later, in January 1977, the UMO joined with the Anglo-Conservative Society to sponsor a meeting at the House of Commons to discuss a number of practical issues faced by Muslims, especially those in schools (such as time off for worship, appropriate dress and diet, and the scope for religious instruction) (Pasha, 1977, p. 1). But at the top of the agenda for that meeting was a demand for the ‘domestication’ of Islamic family law for Muslims in Britain.