Case Study

Sara's Story: ‘They pressurised me to go back to him’

In early 2000 I applied to an Islamic-Sharia Council in London to obtain a Sharia divorce. Despite all the time, money and emotional energy that I spent, and the fact that Abdul is remarried with a child, over 10 years later the Islamic-Sharia Council still refuse to give me an Islamic divorce.

The Sharia Council ‘judges’ did not listen to a word I had to say. They did not look at me when they were talking to me, rather they would look at the floor. It was awful. I felt like a second class citizen.

I took a copy of my civil divorce to the Sharia Council. However they were not interested in this information. They explained that they wanted Abdul to present his case.

The first time the Sharia Council wrote to me they pressurised me to go back to Abdul and continue the marriage despite my protests. After I refused to reconcile with Abdul, the Sharia Council wrote to me a second time and told me that I should continue living as married and not apply for a divorce. I told them this was an unsatisfactory resolution.

The Sharia Council eventually wrote to me for the third time and informed me that they would only grant me a divorce if I agreed to the following conditions:

1. To sign an affidavit, a legal document which stated that I would allow Abdul to have access to my daughter. I had to agree to pay for Abdul to visit England once a year to see our daughter and to pay for my daughter to visit Pakistan once a year to have contact with Abdul. I simply could not afford this.
2. I must agree to a ‘cooling off’ period to see whether the marriage could be reconciled. I explained that I had not seen Abdul in five years and that I just wanted to obtain an Islamic divorce and to move on with my life.

During my civil divorce, Abdul wrote a long letter to my solicitor stating that he had no intention of providing financially for our child. This letter was used as evidence in the England and Wales courts and was thus extremely helpful in gaining a civil divorce. When I showed the same letter to the Sharia Council they informed me that the letter was not relevant to my case.

The registration fee cost £100. The Sharia Council would then ask me to pay £30 for every letter they wrote. The Sharia Council asked me to pay a further £200 so that my case could be heard before the panel. I refused to pay any more money. Within six months of applying for the civil divorce I gained a decree absolute. The civil route certainly upheld my rights as a woman. The civil route was so easy and more importantly, I was respected.