Excerpt:
In an attempt to stop the encroachment of Sharia-compliant courts, British Baroness Caroline Cox has introduced the Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill into the House of Lords. It is meant to halt the encroachment of sharia law into every aspect of British society.
This is juxtaposed against the news that "the first Sharia-compliant pension fund has been launched in the UK." Couched in soothing words to the Muslim consumer, the Sharia compliant Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) are meant to alleviate concerns as "fresh warnings are issued daily that Britons will not have enough money to live on when they retire. Many British Muslims are party to this due to the limited choices of Sharia compliant products available to them...." [thus] "Sharia compliant products and investments can be best compared with the values of socially responsible investing." This euphemistic ambiguity gets little clarity.
Yet, Sharia law in Britain flies in the face of the notion of one law for all since the funds are based on the Koran and structured around Islamic Sharia law. This is yet another move in the "gradual establishment of parallel Islamic financial and legal systems in British public life."