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International The Economist December 9th 2017 59

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60 Canada’s problem with polygamy

Islamic family law those living in their homeland where only
Marriages of inconvenience one, Islamic set of rules applies. That is
thanks to an ever-growing habit among
English Muslim couples: havingan Islamic
ceremony which is not registered with the
British state. A recent survey of1,000 mar-
ried Muslim women by Britain’s Channel
4, a publicly owned broadcaster, found
BRUSSELS that 600 had religious-only unions.
Howsharia unions can hurtwomen in the West
Only a few imams in England are li-
HIRIN MUSA draws on bitter experi- country B as they apply to people who are censed as state registrars. In England, if the
Sence to inspire her workto help women clearly from country B and to transactions relationship breaks down, the financially
caught between legal and cultural worlds. which occurred in countryB. Thiscan have weaker partner, usually the woman, is
Educated and long-resident in the Nether- odd effects. Iranians who fled after the rev- poorly placed to claim maintenance or a
lands, she was unhappily married to a olution in 1979 found 30 years later that share of assets. (This is rarely an issue in
man from her native Pakistan. In 2009 a German courts were adjudicating their Scotland, where many imams are regis-
Dutch judge put a legal end to their union marital affairs by the Islamic rules of their tered as celebrants.) “If they had married
butherhusband would notgrantan Islam- homeland. In most democracies, recogni- Islamically back in Pakistan, that would
ic divorce. Although she lived in secular tion offoreign codesisbalanced bya coun- have standing,” says Aina Khan, a lawyer
Europe, this refusal mattered. If she remar- tervailing principle. A judge can refuse to and activist. A religious rite in Pakistan can
ried, she would be considered an adulter- recognise, say, a child marriage contracted ultimatelygain recognition in England, but
essunderIslamiclawand riskpunishment overseas ifit offends “public order”. a religious-only union conducted in Eng-
ifshe returned to Pakistan. Still, the risk of being trapped between land can be the worst ofall worlds.
So Ms Musa pursued her spouse systems is acute for those in transition
through the Dutch courts. In 2010 she re- from the Islamicworld, which hasdetailed Arite mess
ceived a landmark judgment: he would be prescriptions for marriage, divorce, custo- England has an elaborate subculture
fined €250 ($295) a day, up to a maximum dy and inheritance, to Western countries where Islamic family law is practised.
of€10,000 ($11,795), aslongashe refused to where egalitarian, secular standards pre- There are dozens ofsharia councils, whose
cooperate. This had the desired effect. She vail. In classic Muslim thinking a man can main workconcerns appeals from women
then persuaded the Dutch parliament to renounce his wife unilaterally by pro- who want release from failed marriages.
make holding women in such “marital nouncing the word talaq on three occa- Ms Khan thinks these councils have bur-
captivity” a criminal offence, in theory sions. The ex-wife keeps the mahr, the gift geoned in an unhealthy way, in part be-
punishable by jail. Now she runs Femmes which the man gives her on marrying. For cause of English law’s inconsistent treat-
for Freedom, a charity that campaigns for a woman, obtaining a divorce is far harder. ment offaiths. Anglican marriage includes
people in similarsituations. “I wasluckyto She can start proceedings, with the help of the signing of a registry which makes the
be well-educated and have a supportive an imam or Islamic authority, and this can union official, and the state also acknowl-
blood family,” she says. “Others are not.” lead to a khul’a or divorce by consent, edges Jewish and Quaker ceremonies, but
The Dutch law, in force since 2013, is an though she may have to cede her mahr to not automatically those of other creeds. A
unusual effort to protect women in the make herhusband agree. Ifhe hasbehaved reformed law could either insist that un-
West from rules made in harsher places. badly and refuses a termination, an Islam- ions of all kinds be registered civilly, as
Butin a transientworld itishard to seal one ic judge can impose a faskh or judicial di- happens in France, or else it could give le-
country’s legal and cultural norms from vorce. But gettingthis can be hard. gal standingto the rites ofpopularfaiths.
another’s. Underthe basicprinciples ofso- The situation for hundreds of thou- In the Netherlands it is illegal to con-
called private international law, courts in sands of Pakistani-descended women in duct a religious ceremony unless a civil
country A can enforce the legal norms of England is in some ways worse than for one has already been carried out. When 1