SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book draws upon original empirical and policy research to examine debates on religious practice and the experience of Muslim family law within British Muslim communities. It examines the question of reform within marriage that focuses on the laws of English marriage but one via a historical lens. The book then shows that many of the earliest Muslim marriages in England and Wales were located within the legal framework, either by being combined with a legally binding ceremony, or, later, by being conducted in a registered mosque. It also draws upon original empirical research including in-depth interviews with British Muslim women, and interviews with professionals ranging from imams and sharia council judges to solicitors and counsellors and suggests reform and regulation of their processes and procedures to provide Muslim women with greater rights and protection.