Muslim Alternative Dispute Resolution: Tracing the Pathways of Islamic Legal Practice between South Asia and Contemporary Britain

Abstract

In recent decades, a wide array of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) forums have taken shape within British Muslim communities. Exploring the development of Muslim ADR practices in contemporary Britain, this paper argues that these quasilegal mechanisms are not entirely novel formations created afresh in the modern British socio-legal context; but rather, they have antecedents in long-standing cultural and religious norms that can be traced back to colonial-era South Asia. In the Indian subcontinent under British rule, the paper suggests, religious and community leaders often sanctioned the practice of community-led dispute resolution, grounded in Islamic principles of mediation and arbitration, to settle disputes without recourse to government courts. Ultimately, the routines of Muslim non-state adjudication formulated in South Asia were transposed through the dynamics of migration to the UK, where they continue to be visible in faith-based dispute resolution forums and practices.

Introduction. Minority families and the law: Interactions of ethnic, religious, and cultural minorities with law and state institutions

“…There is a rich literature on alternative dispute resolution by minority groups, especially in contexts of migration and post-colonialism. A substantial part of this literature focuses on Muslim minorities in the UK (for example: Bano 2007, Keshavjee 2007, Tas 2013, Akhtar 2013, Bowen 2016, Jones 2020, and to a lesser extent in other European countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, and the Nordic countries (van Rossum 1999, Al-Sharmani 2017, Rohe 2018, Jaraba 2020. Religious or culturally-based conflict-resolution outside of the state is often viewed with suspicion by European state actors, as well as in public debates, especially when it considers Muslim minorities (Jones and Shanneik, 2020).…”