By: Imam Ahmed Saad (Imam of North London Central Mosque)

He started by telling me that he has fallen into an affair with a lady and committed adultery with her. He was asking me if I can conduct a marriage for him to solve his problem, and I said that he has to be married at the civil center before I can conduct his Islamic marriage. As he said he cannot do so, I apologized that I cannot do the Islamic marriage then. I further tried to find out the reasons that prevented him from taking this step. As is normal, his reasons were that he was staying illegally in the UK.

This was just one example of almost a daily situation where I am visited by young men and women who are willing to be married according to the Islamic way but not in the civil court. Being illegal residents, some of them cannot take the step of civil marriage, while others who are legally staying in the country are still not willing to take up the civil marriage because they are not ready for that step. Sometimes, it seems to them burdening to take such a step while they want to live with their respective spouses as husbands and wives, without the least embarrassment or thought of what is haram (Arabic for: prohibited by Allah).

This is one of the problem's aspects. I have to turn all these people down and tell them that I cannot conduct their marriages unless they are married at the registrar first. If I do not do that, I will be subject to punishment by the law for doing something that requires a certain process in an improper way.

Another difficulty is normally faced in case of divorce, where one spouse or both are willing to end their marriage. The ideal procedure is for them to go to the civil court, yet there are more deeper problems that need consultation with an imam or someone of religious authority for maintaining the marriage for the sake of both parties and the welfare of the children.

Yet, because at the end of the day it is not in the hands of the imam to pass a judgment that can be of legal nature upon the husband and the wife, many of these consultations end up in futileness.

Religious Consultation vs. Law

It is admissible that magistrates and councils of consultation are acceptable on both individual and official levels, yet their verdicts have no legal status