policies are put into place (such as the teaching of
Arabic, or religious instruction) without immigrant
populations having been consulted as to their real
needs (Alund and Schierup 1991).
The most controversial aspects of acknowledg-
ing Muslim minorities are less connected with cul-
tural differences (and respect for them), and are
more strictly located within the domain of religion.
The political problem does not reside in the conflict
between the rights of the citizen and collective
rights; rather it concerns the internal restrictions as
related to common law that are laid claim to by a
specific group. In other words, is one group, what-
ever this group may be, within its rights to ask the
state to intervene in order to guarantee practices
that might oppress the individual? It is within such
circumstances that the status of Islam is often con-
sidered to be problematic, whether in relation to
dress code, marriage, divorce, work, or social life.
The cultural reality of Western female Muslims is,
in fact, much more complex insofar as they are
experiencing an Islamic law that has adapted to the
secular and pluralistic context.
Implicit acknowledgment of
civil Islamic law under
Western law
It is an unprecedented situation that often re-
ceives no attention: Islamic legal norms are being
reconstructed in the West as a function of the prin-
ciples of dominant European law. Within the dom-
inant scenario of the majority of Muslims who
accept the legal and institutional framework of the
country where they live, an adaptation of Islam to
the national law is indeed in progress. Astonish-
ingly, this adaptation is, in most cases, passive. In
fact, this adjustment does not emanate from legal
experts of Muslim theologians, but from European
and American judges. The consequence is the slow
and “invisible” construction of a new form of
Islam, of an Islam that has been adjusted to
Western law (Cesari 2004). The contours of this
evolution are more or less clear depending on the
country and the Islamic group concerned. In the
case of England, Pearl and Menski (1998) call this
hybrid legal system “Angrezi Shari≠a.” “While
English Law is clearly the official law, Muslim Law
in Britain today has become part of the sphere of
unofficial law. This analytical paradigm indicates
that Muslims continue to feel bound by the frame-
work of the Shari≠aand value it more than Western
concepts... Thus, rather than adjusting to English
law by abandoning certain facets of their Shari≠a,
South Asian Muslims in Britain appear to have
built the requirements of English Law into their
western europe 31own traditional legal structures” (Pearl and Menski
1998, 75). This emergent hybrid product is marked
with the seal of Western individualist culture, that
is, it is marked as being compatible with the princi-
ple of individual freedom. The recognition (even
implicit) of such a principle is currently redefining
Islamic regulations with regard to the status of the
individual and the family, the two main areas where
discord arises between the norms of Western law on
individuals’ rights and the legal norms of Muslim
countries. It proves to be beneficial to the status of
women and to their empowerment.
Islamic precepts regarding the family and the
individual have been profoundly altered by life in
the West. In matters of family law, most Muslim
countries privilege a system of norms that accredits
polygamy, gives priority to the husband throughout
divorce proceedings, and does not recognize civil
or inter-religious marriages. Usually, conflicts arise
within international law on individuals’ rights
when the legal prescriptions of certain foreign
countries contradict basic human rights in matters
such as marriage or divorce.
It is within the domain of repudiation that arbi-
tration or attempts at reconciliation between reli-
gious law and civil judgments are often necessary.
Repudiation is everywhere prohibited by current
Western laws. When a minority group is more
organized, judges can take into account recom-
mendations made by religious decision-makers. In
England, a reconciliation body has been set up, the
Shariah Council, in order to settle disputes that
may occur over forms of religious and civil mar-
riage. Concerning polyamy, when a husband re-
fuses to consent to his wife’s plea for divorce, the
wife can resort to the Shariah Council, which then
summons the two parties and tries to offer a form
of arbitration. However, it seems that in the future
legal conflicts centered on polygamy will continue
to decline in number since this practice is practi-
cally no longer followed by those individuals
socialized in the context of Western society. Certain
female law experts are currently emerging, arguing
that the Qur±ànic norms in matters of marriage are
actually those of monogamy. Other conflictual
aspects of Islamic family life concern the religion of
children and child custody, notably in cases of inter-
religious marriages. In Islam, the father transmits
his name and his religion to his children. He is thus
legally entitled to custody of the children in the
event of divorce from a non-Muslim woman. In
general, Western courts do not recognize such a
principle except if it is in the best interest of the
child.
A new set of Islamic norms is thus currently being