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Should shari´a law be introduced into the British legal system? Elham Manea explores this question as a human rights activist and Arab scholar who identifies herself as Muslim.

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In response to recent media controversy and public debate about legal pluralism and multiculturalism, Manea argues against what she identifies as the growing tendency for people to be treated as ´homogenous groups´ in Western academic discourse, rather than as individuals with authentic voices. Building on her knowledge of the situation for women in Middle Eastern and Islamic countries, she undertakes first-hand analysis of the Islamic shari´a councils and Muslim arbitration tribunals in various British cities. Based on meetings with the leading sheikhs - including the only woman on their panels - as well as interviews with experts on extremism, lawyers and activists in civil society and women´s rights groups, Manea offers an impassioned critique of legal pluralism, connecting it with political Islam and detailing the lived experiences of women in Muslim communities.

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Chapter 1. Introduction: The Debate
Chapter 2. A Critical Review of the Essentialist Paradigm
Chapter 3. Islamic Law in the West: The Case of Britain
Chapter 4. Legal Pluralism in Practice
Chapter 5. Islamic Law and Human Rights Between Theory
and Reality: Britain as a Showcase
Chapter 6. Islamism and Islamic Law in the West: Stating the Obvious? Britain as an Example
Chapter 7. Contextualising the Debate in Women´s Reality: Shari´a Law Contested
Conclusion: Time for a Paradigm Shift

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Elham Manea is Associate Professor in the Political Science Institute at the University of Zurich. She is a Fulbright scholar and consultant for Swiss government agencies and international human rights organizations. She is the author of The Arab State and Women´s Rights: The Trap of Authoritarian Governance" (2011), Regional Politics in the Gulf: Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen (2005) and Political Parties and Organizations in Yemen, 1948-1993 (1994). She has recently been appointed by the Swiss Federal Council as a Member of the Federal Commission for Women´s Affairs.

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