Young British Muslims are increasingly opting for Sharia marriages – sparking fears of a rise in ‘secret polygamy’, it was claimed last night.
Around 100,000 couples are living under such arrangements, which are not recognised under UK law.
Because the practice bypasses register offices, it is feared men are taking more than one wife without the authorities’ knowledge.
Islamic family lawyer Aina Khan said she was seeing a ‘huge’ increase in issues with polygamy as a result of such ‘secret’ marriages.
She said: ‘Probably a quarter of all couples I see involve polygamy issues. There has been a huge rise in recent years because people can have a secret nikah (Islamic marriage) and no one will know about it.’
It has been estimated that there are as many as 20,000 polygamous Islamic unions in the UK.
Mrs Khan said the increase in Sharia marriages was being driven by Muslims aged under 30 who are becoming more religious.
Many also fear British family courts, which presume that a couple’s assets should be split equally in the event of divorce.
Under UK law, bigamy is illegal and can result in a prison sentence of up to seven years.
But as Sharia marriages are not recognised by English courts – and around 70 to 75 per cent of Muslim weddings go unregistered – those who wed under the system are not subject to prosecution.
The unions are rubber-stamped under Sharia law, which considers polygamy legitimate, with Muslim men permitted to take up to four wives.
Amra Bone, Britain’s first woman Islamic judge on a Sharia court, said most Muslim men did not take more than one wife.
She added: ‘Most men will tell you, “I can’t look after one wife, never mind more than one”.
‘But we cannot – and the Government cannot – ask Muslims not to have more than one wife. People have a right to decide for themselves,’ she told The Times.
In an extreme example, a 2012 investigation found a Muslim cleric in Peterborough was willing to marry off a 12-year-old child bride in a Sharia ceremony.