Leading British Muslim group slams peer Cox’s anti-Islam remarks

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Wednesday 28 Oct 2015 - 13:24 Makkah mean time-15-1-1437 Baroness Caroline Cox. Image from the Independent London, (IINA) - Claims by a British peer that Muslim men have up to 20 children and women are submissive have been vehemently rejected by a leading Muslim group that said Islamic law had to be considered "in context”, OnIslam reported. "There are non-Muslim families in the UK that have lots of children so it's just pandering to that view that Muslims are different they are not really part of our society and they need to be dealt with,” Harun Khan, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), told The Independent. MCB condemnation followed peer Baroness Caroline Cox’s claims that men in some British communities are living in polygamous societies where they father up to 20 children. The British peer also claimed that Muslim women are suppressed in their local communities. "The rights of Muslim women and the law of our land must be upheld," Cox said. "Muslim friends tell me that in some communities with high polygamy and divorce rates, men may have up to 20 children each." The controversial comments were made last Friday in the House of Lords on Friday when Baroness Cox said loopholes in equality legislation had led to the emergence of Shari`ah councils as an alternative "quasi-legal system", which she said meant women were "oppressed by religiously sanctioned gender discrimination in this country." Condemning Lady Cox’s claims, Khan argued that Islamic law had to be considered "in context" and it was not as simple as men being allowed to be polygamous. Britain is home to a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 2.8 million, according to latest census released in 2011. Shari`ah courts in Britain are legally recognized as providing a form of alternative dispute resolution. In Islam, marriage is a sacred bond that brings together a man and a woman by virtue of the teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Each partner in this sacred relationship must treat the other properly and with respect. Woman is recognized by Islam as the full and equal partner of the man in the procreation of humankind. SM/IINA