ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the scholarship to consider debates on the practice of Muslim family law in Britain and traces the emergence of Shari'a councils as alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. It explores some of the complexities to better understand the dialogical relations between Muslim communities and state law processes and to considers whether such processes produce specific outcomes for Muslim women in Britain, as primary users of Shari'a councils. In his study of Muslim legal pluralism, Menski points to what he describes as 'the legal de-recognition of Muslim divorces in the United Kingdom'. The chapter explores analysis of the debates concerning the emergence of 'multicultural legalism' in English law. It draws on empirical fieldwork to discuss one particular issue in Britain: the emergence of Muslim family law frameworks to resolve matrimonial disputes for Muslims. The chapter provides people with new understandings of the relationship between pluralism, multiculturalism and legal pluralism and how they co-exist and manifest in Britain.
