Are Muslim Ladies Trapped in Marriages in Denmark?

April 20, 2020

Are Muslim Ladies Trapped in Marriages in Denmark?

“we do not have certain courts for Muslims. The essence of Danish culture is the fact that we now have courts that connect with everyone else. There are numerous muslims that are democratic whom lead normal life and generally are well integrated in Danish culture. I understand it really is easier in theory, but then we as being a society must help them. ” — Minister of Integration Mattias Tesfaye, Berlingske Tidende, 2, 2020 february.

One imam, Mostafa Chendid, estimates that 2,000-3000 Muslim women in Denmark are caught in Islamic marriages they can’t get free from.

” this is a problem that is big lots of men support the ladies hostage in marriages they don’t wish. They don’t accept a breakup from A danish court — just from a spiritual one”, he stated. “I’m sure ladies who have actually tried in vain for 10 years to locate an imam which will accept their divorce or separation. 80-90 per cent regarding the imams will likely not notice that a breakup from A danish court is additionally legitimate. As well as the same time frame, the ladies’s husbands and families inform them until they will have the imams’ approval. That they’re maybe not divorced” — Imam Mostafa Chendid, Kristeligt Dagblad, 16, 2020 january.

It absolutely was four years ago that Danish television first exposed sharia councils and imams which help keep women that are muslim abusive marriages plus in synchronous communities. Exactly exactly How is it feasible that Danish politicians are nevertheless “shocked”?

In reaction to a report that is new “Ethnic minority females and breakup – with a concentrate on Muslim practice, ” Denmark’s Minister of Integration, Mattias Tesfaye, stated: “The report is shocking. We are now living in 2020. Perhaps Not at the center many years. The women that are oppressed to understand their legal rights. We will not accept social control. ” (Image supply: PES Communications/Flickr)

In March 2016, a television that is three-part, “The Mosques Behind the Veil, ” had been aired on Danish TV2. The documentary delivered two young Muslims undercover, as Fatma and Muhammed, to a wide range of “parallel” Muslim societies in Denmark.

For the purpose of the documentary, Fatma was presented with a individual cover tale — predicated on real-life issues — which is why she’d check with the various imams: Her spouse had been violent, and she didn’t need to have sexual intercourse with him. She could maybe maybe not conceive along with his household had discovered a wife that is second him. All of the Danish imams with who she consulted within the documentary shared with her to put on using the physical violence. Whenever she pleaded for divorce proceedings at a sharia council into the Fredens mosque in Г…rhus, Denmark’s 2nd biggest town, the imams here refused and shared with her — ten times — that she must get back to her spouse and attempt once more.

During the time, Danish researchers estimated that there have been a quantity of sharia councils in Denmark. “Sharia councils are evidently a market that is black which exists in hiding. It really is difficult for me personally to put a quantity upon it, however it is here, ” stated Professor Thomas Hoffmann during the University of Copenhagen in 2016.

Four years later on, in February 2020, the newspaper that is daily Tidende unveiled that the Islamic center in Copenhagen, Islamic Center for the European Countries, functions as a type of sharia court, and “issues legal Islamic judgments and responses in most cases associated with Islamic faith, guidelines, wedding, divorce proceedings, conduct, inheritance and halal/haram concerns, all considering Al-Qur’an, Sunnah and Muslim scholars’ contract and analogies, ” while the center had written in a document explaining its tasks. Danish authorities need to have understood this — the description is available one of many approved communities that are religious Denmark regarding the Danish Church Ministry’s own internet site.

The “discovery” associated with the sharia court uses a brand new report, “Ethnic minority females and divorce – with a concentrate on Muslim practice, ” written for the Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration, indicated that Muslim ladies who had been hitched based on Islamic legislation — either abroad or in Denmark — battle to get yourself a spiritual divorce or separation from an imam that is danish.

“The report is shocking. We are now living in 2020. Perhaps maybe perhaps Not in the centre ages. The women that are oppressed to learn their legal rights. We will not accept social control” said Danish Minister of Integration Mattias Tesfaye.

One interviewed girl, defined as Khulud, an immigrant from Iraq, described exactly exactly how her husband declined to divorce her:

“I happened to be from the phone with him and then he started initially to jeopardize me personally. He explained: ‘I’m able to allow you to regret the day you have to understand me personally. I will be prepared to utilize all methods to make everything bitter and intolerable’. But the imams just keep telling me, ‘we can not offer a lady a divorce or separation, that has made her Nikah Islamic wedding agreement in Iraq. ‘ we have actually attempted to destroy myself many times – i’m simply therefore tired. “

Minister of Integration Tesfaye stated which he wishes Danish sharia councils “stopped”.

“then there are lots of countries to go to if you want a country with sharia courts. No one forces those kinds of individuals in which to stay Denmark, ” Tesfaye said.

“we do not have particular courts for Muslims. The essence of Danish culture is we’ve. Courts that apply to everyone else. There are numerous democratic Muslims, whom lead normal everyday lives as they are well incorporated in Danish society. They need to maybe maybe not feel dedicated to a spiritual authority in Denmark and submit to an additional pair of guidelines. No body is obliged to attend an imam to have a divorce proceedings. Then they have to go to the authorities if some people feel that they are in a marriage against their will. There aren’t any shortcuts right here. I understand its easier in theory, but then we as society must help them”.

” As government, ” he included, “we have been perhaps not planning to facilitate A islamic organization that approves divorces. Our authorities are for all of us irrespective of spiritual history. We just have one pair of guidelines plus one pair of courts. “

One imam, Mostafa Chendid, estimates that 2,000-3000 women that are muslim Denmark are caught in Islamic marriages they can’t get free from. ” this is a big issue and lots of men support the ladies hostage in marriages they don’t wish. They will not accept a breakup from a court that is danish only from a spiritual one, ” he said. “I’m sure ladies who have actually tried in vain for a decade to locate an imam that may accept their divorce or separation. ” He included:

“80-90 percent associated with imams will maybe not notice that a breakup from a court that is danish also valid consistently. And also at the same time frame, the ladies’s husbands and families inform them until they have the imams’ approval” that they are not divorced.

In accordance with Jesper Petersen, whom co-wrote the report, “Ethnic minority females and breakup with a give attention to Muslim practice”:

“. Some Muslim women experience serious dilemmas of real and emotional punishment and control that is social. Plus in their regional environments the secular breakup. Just isn’t considered adequate to break down the divorce that is religious. That’s the reason the spouse could keep them within an marriage that is islamic their might. “

It had been four years ago that Danish television first exposed sharia councils and imams that help keep Muslim women in abusive marriages plus in synchronous communities. Exactly How is it feasible that Danish politicians are nevertheless “surprised”?

Judith Bergman, a columnist, attorney and governmental analyst, is just a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

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