Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly, President Donald Trump stunned world leaders by declaring that London \u201cwants to go to sharia law.\u201d He linked the claim to Europe\u2019s migration crisis, warning that the continent is being \u201cinvaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody\u2019s ever seen before.\u201d Trump said leaders were paralyzed by political correctness, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s not sustainable\u2026 they\u2019re doing absolutely nothing about it.\u201d Turning to Britain\u2019s capital, he declared, \u201cI look at London where you have a terrible mayor, a terrible, terrible mayor. And it\u2019s been so changed, so changed. Now they want to go to sharia law, but you are in a different country. You can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The remark drew immediate backlash from London\u2019s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who fired back that Trump was \u201cracist, sexist, misogynistic, and Islamophobic.\u201d Khan told the BBC, \u201cPeople are wondering what it is about this Muslim mayor who leads a liberal, multicultural, progressive and successful city, that means I appear to be living rent-free inside Donald Trump\u2019s head.\u201d Yet Trump\u2019s comments resonated because they tapped into real controversies inside Britain about religious councils, unequal treatment of women, and failures to uphold one law for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although UK officials insist that English law remains supreme, sharia councils have quietly grown since the first one was set up in Leyton in 1982. By 2017, a government review estimated around 85 across the country, many in London, Birmingham, and northern towns. These councils primarily handle religious divorce, inheritance, and family disputes. They are not legally binding under British law. But in practice, many Muslims turn to them first, giving these panels social authority that often eclipses civil courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem, critics say, is discrimination. A government-commissioned review by Professor Mona Siddiqui found that over 90 percent of users were women seeking religious divorce. Many had no civil marriage, leaving them legally unprotected. Sharia judges, almost always male, have pressured women to reconcile with abusive husbands, demanded payment to secure a divorce, or left women trapped in limbo. As Baroness Cox, who has campaigned against these councils, warned in Parliament, they amount to a \u201crapidly developing alternative quasi-legal system\u201d that undermines equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sinister side of these councils lies in their practical effect. Nick Timothy, a Conservative MP and former adviser to Theresa May, argued that sharia marriages should be criminalized if they lack civil registration. He warned that otherwise Britain would tolerate \u201cprivatized justice\u201d that leaves women with no rights. Julie Bindel, a journalist who has investigated the councils, called it a \u201cdangerous rise\u201d that fuels honor crimes, forced marriages, and female genital mutilation. She revealed shocking figures: more than 2,700 \u201chonor-based\u201d offences recorded in a single year, including 201 cases of forced marriage and 111 involving FGM. Yet prosecutions remain rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even government statements have grown troubling. In September, a minister told Parliament that sharia councils are \u201cin line with British values\u201d because they are voluntary, just like Christian or Jewish religious tribunals. Critics saw that as an astonishing attempt to normalize discrimination. Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern blasted the claim, insisting that sharia is \u201cfundamentally incompatible with English law and British values.\u201d He pointed out that unlike Jewish Beth Din or ecclesiastical courts, sharia tribunals create an entire shadow system that is binding within communities and erodes equal treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s words strike deep because the principles at stake directly contradict core American freedoms. Sharia law, in strict form, diminishes women\u2019s rights, allows polygamy, and permits forced marriage. In matters of divorce, men can dissolve a marriage with three words, while women must beg judges for release. Non-Muslims face restrictions, second-class treatment, and obstacles to religious practice. Free expression is curbed by blasphemy taboos, and lifestyle choices\u2014from alcohol to relationships\u2014can carry harsh penalties in countries where sharia dominates. To Americans, these are not just differences but violations of liberty, equality, and human dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Khan-Trump feud has long been personal, with Trump calling the mayor a \u201cstone cold loser\u201d in the past. Yet this clash is larger than personality. When Trump says London is sliding toward sharia, he is accusing Britain of surrendering its most fundamental principle: one law for all. Khan and his allies insist that London remains safe, diverse, and open. Labour MPs like Wes Streeting argue that Khan is \u201ca mayor who marches with Pride\u201d and is not imposing religious law. Rupa Huq dismissed Trump\u2019s words as \u201cblatant barefaced lies.\u201d But the existence of dozens of sharia councils, unregistered marriages, and discriminatory rulings tells a darker story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not a matter of criminal law being replaced overnight. It is the gradual normalization of a parallel system, tolerated by politicians afraid of offending religious sensitivities. It is women being told their rights are secondary, children left unprotected, and speech curtailed under the guise of public order. Trump\u2019s rhetoric is crude, but the reality is that Britain has allowed sharia to carve out its own space, unchecked and expanding. The danger is not that London is officially governed by sharia, but that freedom itself is being chipped away piece by piece, until it is no longer recognizable. In that sense, Trump\u2019s warning may be more accurate than his critics want to admit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NP Editor: <\/strong> Some of this is happening in the U.S. as well. It needs to be stopped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly, President Donald Trump stunned world leaders by declaring that London \u201cwants to go to sharia law.\u201d He linked the claim to Europe\u2019s migration crisis, warning that the continent is being \u201cinvaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody\u2019s ever seen before.\u201d Trump said leaders were paralyzed by political correctness, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s not sustainable\u2026 they\u2019re doing absolutely nothing about it.\u201d Turning to Britain\u2019s capital, he declared, \u201cI look at London where you have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-european-politics","category-individual-liberty"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/muslimcourtas.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6547,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6546\/revisions\/6547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}