News and Analysis on Islam in Europe and North America
May 14 2013 According to De Volkskrant, during a meeting on honor-related violence held by the social affairs ministry, police announced that they had supported an underage girl’s Islamic marriage. The Pakistani girl, who was in love with a Pakistani Hindu boy in her neighbourhood, was resisting a planned marriage to a cousin in
A growing number of young Muslims in the UK are entering marriages that are not legally recognized. This is because couples are having an Islamic wedding (nikah) without the civil ceremony needed for the marriage to be recognized under British law. Family lawyer Aina Khan says that she is dealing with an increasing number of
British politician Baroness Warsi has called for restrictions to prevent polygamy in the UK. A Muslim herself she claims that cultural sensitivity has prevented politicians from discussing the issue of polygamy. She is a member of the Conservative Party and Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and Social Action and urges the government to consider the
The imam at the Al Badr mosque in Meaux (Seine-et-Marne) is under investigation for performing religious marriage ceremonies prior to the civil ceremonies, and for the falsely collecting unemployment assistance. Nourdine Mamoun, of French nationality, has been charged with undertaking eight illegal marriages between January 2006 and December 2007 and for unjustly receiving monthly social
In response to questions about informal marriages in the Netherlands, Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin said that those who contract informal Muslim marriages should not be punished, but fought with dialogue and information. Hirsch Ballin answered the parliamentary questions of two Labor Party members, who said that they fear informal Muslim marriages could cause