Shariat Courts: Modern Practice and Perspectives in Russia

Abstract

The article touches the fundamental principles of shariat judiciary, modern practice of shariat courts activity in Muslim and Western countries as well as the perspectives of their establishment and functioning in Russia. The place which shariat courts occupied in the judicial system of the Muslim state during Middle Ages is shown. The author analyses in general terms the historical evolution of shariat justice institutions. The differences between modern shariat courts and the same structures which existed in the preceding historical periods are mentioned. The role played by modern shariat courts in the Muslim countries depends on the place which Islamic Shariat occupies in their legal systems. Shariat model of judiciary was known in the Western countries from the Middle Ages. Nowadays shariat courts are still functioning in some of them. There are two main forms of such courts. The first one embraces unofficial so called shariat courts as religious and social organizations while the second one consists of shariat courts acting on legal basis and within official legislation. Arbitration tribunals in the UK which apply some concrete shariat norms resolving civil and family disputes are one of the examples of such form. In Russia, shariat institutions of dispute resolution were created in the 19th century. They existed in one or another form in our country to the end of the 1920s. After that, they existed in fact during decades but their decisions did not have any legal force. From the 1990s, shariat courts began to emerge in Russia as religious or civil structures. Russian legislation provides legal basis for establishing shariat institutions of dispute resolution in the form of arbitration court or mediation structure. Such institutions can be an alternative form opposing illegal shariat courts and they could assist securing legal fundamentals and values within Russian Muslims community.