Contested UK Divorce Under Sharia Law

I was married in Iran 32 years ago. I have lived in the UK for over 24 years and I am a British Citizen.

I applied for divorce in July 2011 after finding my husband was living with another woman and had two children from her.

Since then my husband has been contesting the divorce under Islamic Sharia laws. He claims his new partner is his temporary Islamic wife and that is his right under Islamic laws.

He claims because the marriage was not registered in the UK, I have not right to divorce in this country and has asked the judge to dismiss my request for divorce and to refer this to the high court.

We have gone through five hearings since July, which has included a one-hour, three-hour, one-day hearing in front of a District Judge to a three-hour and now a three-day hearing in front of a Circuit Judge, which is due in two weeks, to determine the outcome of this divorce.

I would like to know what chance I have in obtaining the divorce in two weeks, as I am starting to lose hope very rapidly and just feel like giving up.

Many thanks

Just to let you know that I''ve replied to your pm

I thought this could be sorted using the religious marriages act, shows how much i know, back to the comics for me.

Thank you Jonathan.

Dukey, I think my husband is just trying to put doubt in the mind of the Judge to suggest maybe this case is out of his/her jurisdiction.

As far as I am concerned I am a British subject and should be granted a divorce in this country under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, irrespective of my religion?

There are two other acts that will probably be debated from from back in 1954, but probably of more importance is the 2002 religious marriages act that defines the interaction between law (mca ect) and sharia and Jewish divorce law.It may be worth your while reading it.

Its almost imposable to guess where the problem lies, i assume he is saying you were never married, years ago there was a bit of a problem with certain religious marriages in Pakistan being recognised in other countries, but even that was defined a fair while ago.

Do you know exactly what his objection is?.

Btw jurisdiction is not the problem, under the EU council regulation 3.1 to show jurisdiction you qualify as habitually resident.

Really appreciate the information dukey! I am sure it will come in handy and I will certainly refer this to my solicitor.

There is no denial by him or and the Judge has established that we are legally married. He just claims that because the marriage is not registered in the UK, the courts here don’t have a jurisdiction, which is not what I have been told and is reinforced by your previous comments.

The problem is the amount of time he is allowed to delay proceedings. He has now requested an adjournment on the grounds of poor health, one week short of the hearing which I’ve been anticipating for four months. I have not agreed anything but I fear it will be granted.