Who can be considered a religious authority in the West?

HA Hellyer asks whether a conglomerate of religious organisations could fill a need in the UK.

Muslims in the UK lack an Islamic council. Lindsen Parnaby / EPA

The activities of a London based “Sharia council” have recently attracted the attention of the British media. Accused of miscarriages of justice, the episode is only the latest in a series of controversies relating to the practice of Islamic law for Muslims in the UK. But it is a topic that goes far beyond Britain and affects Muslim-minority communities all over the world.

Muslim communities invariably relate themselves to Islamic jurisprudence. The more observant they are, the more Muslims take seriously the dictates of Islamic law.

There are occasions when Muslims may ask for expert advice from specialists in Islamic law, seeking guidance on personal religious matters. There will be other occasions where the same advice will be sought, but in the context of a dispute with others – such situations are less about individual concerns, and more about resolving differences between two parties. Typically, these might be matters such as divorce, wills and other domestic scenarios.

These situations are where religious authorities and specialists come into the picture.

In the UK, as in other western countries, “Sharia councils” have come about to partially fill that void, although it is clear that only a minority of Muslims actually use them. But the void goes beyond those councils. The desire to have religious specialists deliver expert advice has been seen in court cases in the UK and Europe for many years. Issues of Islamic law are raised on a regular basis in employment cases, educational ones, and others. Further afield, Muslims will want to take expert advice from what they consider to be religious authorities on a variety of personal and communal issues.

The stumbling block in all these types of events is the same: who can be considered to be a religious authority? When it comes to the UK, the absence of a suitable answer has led all kinds of people rising to prominence as “Islamic experts”.

In the final analysis, a religious authority in Islam is down to educational achievement. Unlike Christianity, Islam does not recognise a hierarchical, ecclesiastical authority, through which religious authority is then disseminated.

In that regard, there is no institution that is deemed to be sacramental in any way. However, what Islam does recognise is the necessity for knowledge in order to be considered a religious authority, which is passed down through and uninterrupted chain of transmission back to the Prophet.

As such, it might be hoped that an expert body might be set up in the UK and in other European countries that would require specific minimum standards for Muslim religious authorities in order to be considered legitimate. Other Muslim communities in minority situations have done the same, in places like Singapore or South Africa.

For religious freedom to continue to be sacrosanct, no Muslim would be compelled by law to follow that expert body – but over time, if such a body stands up to the task, it would gain wide social and religious capital organically.

The problem then arises – who gets to set up such a body?

In most Muslim majority countries, it is the state. In the UK, the state would likely baulk at such an arrangement – and Muslim communities would also object, arguing the state has neither the competency nor the impartiality to engage in such a process. The diversity of Muslim communities in Europe, as well as existing state-community arrangements, would make that a veritable minefield.

That then leaves that same void. Would Muslim lobby groups and community organisations be able to fill that void? Most Muslim community organisations in Europe cannot claim to be wholly representative of their communities – so on what basis would they engage in establishing the standards for that kind of critical religious authority? Would conglomerates of such organisations be able to do so?

A possible route would be for such a conglomerate, if it could be assembled, to engage with Muslim educational institutions in the Muslim world and in other minority communities. They might include the Azhar University in Egypt, the Qaraweeyeen in Morocco, the Najaf seminary in Iraq, and the Association of Religious Scholars (Pergas) in Singapore.

But one way or another – the lack of an authoritative Muslim religious expert body will continue to create difficulties for Muslim communities of the West. They would be well advised to address that problem themselves sooner rather than later.

Dr HA Hellyer is an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, and the Brookings Institution in Washington DC

On Twitter: @hahellyer