page_title: Islam in the United Kingdom
section_title: Sharia
hierarchical_section_title: Islam in the United Kingdom / Sharia
caption_attribution_description: Public demonstration in the United Kingdom for Sharia Al Muhajiroun, Europe October 2009 Shariat, Shariah, Islamic law, Qanoon, Qanun
context_page_description: Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with results from the United Kingdom 2011 Census giving the UK Muslim population in 2011 as 2,516,000, 4.4% of the total population. The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom live in England: 2,660,116. 76,737 Muslims live in Scotland, 45,950 in Wales. London has the greatest population of Muslims in the country. The majority of Muslims in United Kingdom adhere to Sunni Islam, while smaller numbers are associated with Shia Islam.
  During the Middle Ages, there was some general cultural exchange between Christendom and the Islamic world, however, there were no Muslims in the British Isles. During the Elizabethan age contacts became more explicit as the Tudors made alliances against Catholic Habsburg Spain, including with Morocco and the Ottoman Empire. As the British Empire grew, particularly in India, Britain came to rule territories with many Muslim inhabitants; some of these, known as the lascars are known to have settled in Britain from the mid-18th century onwards.
context_section_description: Although sharia is not part of the British legal system, several British establishment figures have supported its use in areas of dispute resolution in Islamic communities. For example, in February 2008 Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury (the head of the Church of England) lectured at the Royal Courts of Justice on Islam and English Law. In this lecture he spoke of the possibility of using sharia in some circumstances.
  [...] it might be possible to think in terms of [...] a scheme in which individuals retain the liberty to choose the jurisdiction under which they will seek to resolve certain carefully specified matters, so that 'power-holders are forced to compete for the loyalty of their shared constituents'
  Several months later, Lord Phillips, then Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales supported the idea that sharia could be reasonably employed as a basis for "mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution", and explained that "It is not very radical to advocate embracing sharia law in the context of family disputes, for example, and our system already goes a long way towards accommodating the archbishop's suggestion."
  In March 2014, The Law Society issued guidance on how to draft sharia-compliant wills for the network of sharia courts which been established to deal with disputes between Muslim families. The guidance was withdrawn later in 2014 following criticism by solicitors and by Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary.
  In 2016-2018 an independent panel commissioned by the UK government investigated the practices of sharia councils operating in England and Wales. The councils have no legal status and no legal jurisdiction in the UK. Estimates for their number range between 30 and 85. The investigation found that most people consulting the councils are women seeking an Islamic divorce. The review concluded that "there is unanimous agreement among the sharia councils themselves that discriminatory practices do occur in some instances within the councils in England and Wales" and made legislative and administrative recommendations to remedy the abuses. The panel was not aware of any sharia councils operating in Scotland.
caption: Public demonstration in the United Kingdom for Sharia, October 2009
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