Britain’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has prompted outrage by advertising for a ‘Sharia law administrator’ on its website. The job listing—now “removed by the employer or a system administrator,” according to a web-page placeholder—would have recruited a graduate on an annual salary of £23,500 (€27,078) at Manchester Community Centre in Didsbury.
To its critics, the problem is that, in theory, England and Wales already have a legal system—and it’s not Sharia. As TV presenter Patrick Christys notes,
This should never, ever be allowed in Britain. The job requires a degree in Sharia Law, but only ‘familiarity’ with British law. Which says it all, really.
The publicly funded role would have required the successful applicant to use their qualifications to review the decisions and actions of local Sharia ‘councils’—over 85 of which operate in the UK and describe themselves not as courts, but as informal arbitrators in family law and related matters. Nevertheless, they have been widely criticised for their theologically motivated bias against women, and there have been calls for them to be banned.
By advertising for the role at an Islamic charity on the publicly funded DWP website, the Labour government (or its civil service) has added to the perception that a ‘two-tier’ system of British justice is taking shape. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage responded
Our country and its values are being destroyed.
