An excellent documentary from UK's Channel Four

State recognition

"The Sharia Council, based at Regents Park Mosque in London, is the oldest such institution in the country. Its scholars or sheikhs have been ruling on all aspects of Muslim life for 25 years. The Council has been trying to get Muslim personal laws recognised by the state but claims that all its attempts to engage with the Government have led nowhere.

Senior Judge and Secretary of the Council, Sheikh Hassan, says: ‘We know that if Sharia laws are implemented then you can change this country into a haven of peace. Because once a thief’s hand is cut off, nobody is going to steal. If only once an adulterer is stoned, nobody is going to commit this crime at all. There would be no rapist[s] at all. This is why we say that, yes, we want to offer it to the British society. … And if they don’t accept it, they would need more and more prisons.’

Whether or not they get state recognition – and however extreme Sheikh Hassan’s views are seen to be – more and more Muslims are turning to the council for religious rulings."

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

Part five