I have never heard such a load of bollocks in my life.

The story is bunk. It mixes up the concept of any Sharia tribunal that might be operating in this country with nutty ramblings by independent clerics on IslamOnline.

UK law does not recognise any unrecognised tribunal. Simple as that. One sharia tribunal (mentioned in the article and based an university, has been recognised for its mediation service. Some mosques offer sharia as a valid form of ADR (alternative dispute resolution) whereby parties in dispute attempt ADR in an effort to avoid a court-date. If both parties don't feel a fair compromise in ADR then they walk away and continue through the courts. What's the problem?

Now if community-members choose to go to a sharia court to resolve their own disputes, without prejudice to their legal rights - what's the problem? The Jewish community have operated religious courts (Beth Din) in this country for decades - and if you think that Judaism is nice cuddly inclusive set of beliefs then you are sorely mistaken.

In Nigeria the Sharia courts work in Parallel with the secular legal system. Criminals can choose Sharia courts or Secular courts. If they don't like their sentence then they are free to appeal to the secular court. Only the secular prison and justice system can carry out sentence so there is the maximum protection to people. The system works very well there - so well that an increasing number of Christians opt into the Sharia process.

A lot of Muslim women resort to Sharia courts because the Sharia is much more weighted towards the women and children in cases of the husband's infidelity or unreasonable behaviour, where it leads to divorce.

This story is very poor and is carefully crafted to wind up reactions in reactionary people. Very disappointing.