Are Muslim Women Trapped in Marriages in Denmark?

by John Richardson
March 4, 2020 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15559/muslim-women-denmark

"We don't have specific courts for Muslims... the essence of Danish society is that we have courts that apply to everyone... There are many democratic Muslims, who lead normal lives and are well integrated in Danish society.... I know it is easier said than done, but then we as a society must support them." — Minister of Integration Mattias Tesfaye, Berlingske Tidende, February 2, 2020.
One imam, Mostafa Chendid, estimates that 2,000-3000 Muslim women in Denmark are trapped in Islamic marriages they cannot get out of.
"It is a big problem and many men hold the women hostage in marriages they do not want. They won't accept a divorce from a Danish court -- only from a religious one", he said. "I know women who have tried in vain for ten years to find an imam that will accept their divorce... 80-90 % of the imams will not recognize that a divorce from a Danish court is also valid... And at the same time, the women's husbands and families tell them that they are not divorced until they have the imams' approval." — Imam Mostafa Chendid, Kristeligt Dagblad, January 16, 2020.
It was four years ago that Danish television first exposed sharia councils and imams that help keep Muslim women in abusive marriages and in parallel societies. How is it possible that Danish politicians are still "shocked"?

In response to a new report, "Ethnic minority women and divorce – with a focus on Muslim practice," Denmark's Minister of Integration, Mattias Tesfaye, said: "The report is shocking. We live in 2020. Not in the Middle ages. The oppressed women need to know their rights... We won't accept social control." (Image source: PES Communications/Flickr)

In March 2016, a three-part television documentary, "The Mosques Behind the Veil," was aired on Danish TV2. The documentary sent two young Muslims undercover, as Fatma and Muhammed, to a number of "parallel" Muslim societies in Denmark.

For the purpose of the documentary, Fatma was given a personal cover story -- based on real-life dilemmas -- for which she would seek advice from the different imams: Her husband was violent, and she did not wish to have sex with him. She could not get pregnant and his family had found a second wife for him. All the Danish imams with whom she consulted in the documentary told her to put up with the violence. When she pleaded for divorce at a sharia council in the Fredens mosque in Århus, Denmark's second largest city, the imams there refused and told her -- ten times -- that she must go back to her husband and try again.

At the time, Danish researchers estimated that there were a number of sharia councils in Denmark. "Sharia councils are apparently a black market, which exists in hiding. It is hard for me to put a number on it, but it is there," said Professor Thomas Hoffmann at the University of Copenhagen in 2016.

Four years later, in February 2020, the daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende revealed that an Islamic center in Copenhagen, Islamic Center for the European Countries, functions as a kind of sharia court, and "issues legal Islamic judgments and answers in all cases relating to Islamic faith, rules, marriage, divorce, conduct, inheritance and halal/haram questions, all based on Al-Qur'an, Sunnah and Muslim scholars' agreement and analogies," as the center wrote in a document describing its activities. Danish authorities ought to have known this -- the description is found on the list of approved religious communities in Denmark on the Danish Church Ministry's own website.

The "discovery" of the sharia court comes after a new report, "Ethnic minority women and divorce – with a focus on Muslim practice," written for the Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration, showed that Muslim women who were married according to Islamic law -- either abroad or in Denmark -- find it difficult to obtain a religious divorce from a Danish imam.

"The report is shocking. We live in 2020. Not in the Middle ages. The oppressed women need to know their rights... We won't accept social control" said Danish Minister of Integration Mattias Tesfaye.

One interviewed woman, identified as Khulud, an immigrant from Iraq, described how her husband refused to divorce her:

"I was on the phone with him and he began to threaten me. He told me: 'I can make you regret the day you got to know me. I am willing to use all means to make your life bitter and unbearable'... But the [imams] just keep telling me, 'we cannot give a woman a divorce, who has made her Nikah [Islamic marriage contract] in Iraq...' I have tried to kill myself several times – I am just so tired."

Minister of Integration Tesfaye said that he wants Danish sharia councils "stopped".

"If you want a country with sharia courts then there are lots of countries to go to. Nobody forces those kinds of people to stay in Denmark," Tesfaye said.

"We don't have specific courts for Muslims... the essence of Danish society is that we have... courts that apply to everyone... There are many democratic Muslims, who lead normal lives and are well integrated in Danish society. They should not feel committed to a religious authority in Denmark and submit to an extra set of rules... Nobody is obliged to go to an imam to get a divorce... If some people feel that they are in a marriage against their will then they have to go to the authorities. There are no shortcuts here. I know it is easier said than done, but then we as a society must support them".

"As a government," he added, "we are not going to facilitate an Islamic institution that approves divorces... our authorities are for everybody regardless of religious background... We only have one set of rules and one set of courts..."

One imam, Mostafa Chendid, estimates that 2,000-3000 Muslim women in Denmark are trapped in Islamic marriages they cannot get out of. "It is a big problem and many men hold the women hostage in marriages they do not want. They won't accept a divorce from a Danish court – only from a religious one," he said. "I know women who have tried in vain for ten years to find an imam that will accept their divorce." He added:

"80-90 % of the imams will not recognize that a divorce from a Danish court is also valid religiously. And at the same time, the women's husbands and families tell them that they are not divorced until they have the imams' approval".

According to Jesper Petersen, who co-wrote the report, "Ethnic minority women and divorce – with a focus on Muslim practice":

"... Some Muslim women experience serious problems of physical and psychological abuse and social control. And in their local environments the secular divorce... is not considered enough to dissolve the religious divorce. That is why the husband can keep them in an Islamic marriage against their will."

It was four years ago that Danish television first exposed sharia councils and imams that help keep Muslim women in abusive marriages and in parallel societies. How is it possible that Danish politicians are still "shocked"?

John Richardson is a researcher based in the United States.

© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Recent Articles by John Richardson

Who Is Actually Running the Country?, 2024-10-28
Iran's Gaza War: Unfortunately, A Ceasefire Deal Will Not Bring the Hostages Back, 2024-09-02
Release the Hostages, 2024-06-02
National Security Threat: Another Latin American Country Chooses China, 2023-03-28
China Inaugurating a New World Order?, 2023-03-17

receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free gatestone institute mailing list.

Comment on this item

19 Reader Comments

Hartmut Brocharski • Mar 7, 2020 at 15:09

The problem in Denmark and other western European countries is that women disrespecting verdicts of these illegal Sharia courts are running a very high risk of being honor killed. Even if those courts are officially banned they will continue their reign over Muslim communities underground.

Reply->

dkjack • Mar 5, 2020 at 15:19

In Denmark, OF COURSE a woman, Muslim or otherwise is not "trapped" in a marriage and can obtain a legal divorce allowing her to remarry, REGARDLESS of what Sharia says. The attitude of her community towards her, as long as it is lawful, cannot be dictated by law. If she is assaulted, then Danish law will NOT excuse the perp on account of Sharia law. If she is literally trapped, then she is kidnapped, and the law will come down even harder! Orthodox Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and others can and do ostracize members for breaking certain rules. Ostracism, while unkind, is NOT illegal anywhere. It's called freedom of association. So stop giving Denmark a bad rap! Under Danish law, "religious courts" have no more legal status than lodge meetings.

Reply->

JAMES C LEWIS

dkjack • Mar 6, 2020 at 20:20

dkjack, I'm told Denmark is a successful socialist country, or at least it is one the American Progressives tout as an example of a successful socialist nation. I hear also that it has a form of capitalist economy, a market economy, that allows Denmark's many socialist-type programs to occur. If that is so, I am curious as to what percentage of taxes citizens have to pay each year in this system?

Reply->

Judy Wall • Mar 5, 2020 at 14:56

Why argue about legal status? A woman who is the victim of violence should pack her bags and leave. Sort it out later when she is in a safe place. Women's shelters are needed here.

Reply->

Nemo • Mar 5, 2020 at 11:13

Not the fault of the Danes!
But it serves the Danes right for allowing them into the country in the first place and anyway, the women are born into a culture where such is their lot in life.
Let them all stew in their own juice.

Reply->

zaheer • Mar 4, 2020 at 22:22

I suggest all these women should renounce Islam en masses and declare themselves non-Muslims. Freedom of religion means the right to leave a religion (more so with an oppressive religion). These women can form a special sect of Islam, a sort of reformed sect, that gives equal rights to women, including the right of divorce through one common civil law procedures.

Reply->

Bill Houston • Mar 4, 2020 at 17:47

It just makes sense that anyone wanting to live in a country should obey the laws of that country. In countries where Sharia law is not the law of the land, Muslims who wish to live under Sharia should investigate thoroughly before they emigrate to a country that does not recognize Islamic law.

Reply->

Marijan Favetti • Mar 4, 2020 at 11:32

We have an old saying that serves us well: "Man cannot serve two masters at the same time". The women or men who say they have assimilated in Danish society, either they accept the Court Order and the Imams accept them, or they have not assimilated as well as they think they have. Seems to me that one can't accept some of Denmark's Law while ignoring others. It's a case that you're either pregnant or not, but one cannot be half pregnant.

Reply->

Selma Soss • Mar 4, 2020 at 11:05

I agree with Peter Feldman. Politicians, not only the ones in Denmark, have been scared to stand up to Muslims, and say firmly, that they must abide by the laws of the country they came into. Why should Muslims have separate communities in some of the countries they have come to live in anyway? Yes, Politicians need to stand up much more firmly on this issue.

Reply->

dkjack • Mar 4, 2020 at 10:58

I respect and honor Jews and love Israel, but the article demands perspective. In the Orthodox community, a Jewish woman cannot divorce without the husband's written release, called a "get". A civil divorce is not recognized by the Orthodox Jewish community without a get. Even if ordered by a rabbinical court, outside Israel a husband cannot be legally coerced to issue a get. This is a big issue for Jewish women's rights advocates. A woman who remarries without a get is spurned by her community. Likewise, a man who refuses to issue a get can also be spurned by the community.

Reply->

Maha

dkjack • Mar 4, 2020 at 19:00

So far, there is nothing in this tradition that results in the abasement and abuse of women. Women are held in high regard in Judaism. As you note, community pressure is upon men as well as women in Orthodox communities to abide by the get.

Reply->

dkjack

Maha • Mar 5, 2020 at 14:54

A legally divorced woman who remarries without a get is shunned by Orthodox. I call that abasement and abuse of women. Of course, it's a matter of degree. Ostracizing by Orthodox Jews, as unkind as it may be, is NOT criminal, whereas in the barbaric Sharia tradition, the abasement and abuse of the remarried woman is often physical, i.e. criminal.

Reply->

Maha • Mar 4, 2020 at 10:45

In the final analysis, imams are in no position to decide if Danish law applies, and are certainly in no position to override it. The entire concept of sharia should be considered null, and its application and practice should be outlawed. Thus, if a spouse, a council, or an imam go against the courts with a "religious" objection to a divorce or any legal matter, they are observing sharia, and are breaking the law.
Danish legal authorities will have to get tougher on recalcitrant men. Perhaps tougher punishment for spousal abuse, with the choice of huge fines or hard labor, could convince these bad actors they are in the wrong place to abuse women.

Reply->

Don Gaetano • Mar 4, 2020 at 10:03

Thanks for this Judith. Another revealing behavior of the growing influence of this culture's refusal to assimilate on a large scale. UK I believe has some sanctioned Islamic courts.
My thought is always, wondering home much goes unreported by the victims in these situations, especially since they are often in fear of real physical harm. Consider the UK teen grooming victims. Caught for years and trafficked among hundreds of men silently suffering as the authorities purposely abandoned them. The practice continues to this day even after nation wide exposure.

Concerning the (Rhetorical?) question posed in the article - How is it possible that the Danish authorities are still shocked? - My take observing all this since 2016 - Is that Politically Left leaning or Progressives in the further left genre, are in such a powerful denial, they are unable to face the horrors that some people are capable of inflicting on others, especially in their imagined perfect societies. Considering the migrant community, unfortunately, the number may not be 'all,' but I'll say 'far too many.'
Strong measures are needed by the governments in this critical time to keep their countries safe and free. Freedom is fragile, needs constant defense from attacks on may fronts at all times.
Thanks again for this article. I think of the many victims often and am considering how to try and raise awareness.

Reply->

Joel • Mar 4, 2020 at 08:23

A country that admits immigrants who see their religious strictures as transcending the country's laws is like a person expecting nourishment from eating broken glass.

Reply->

D J • Mar 4, 2020 at 07:45

One country one law, otherwise it is just fashion.
I agree with Irene.

Reply->

Irene • Mar 4, 2020 at 05:46

I can understand the Danish politicans, that there is to be only one rule in the country, and that this rule is for everyone.
But, what I think might work is - if a woman wants to have a divorce, and get it through the Danish court. If the man does not accept it, the "Nikah" in the understanding that it is a marriage is annulled, and the man is sent to jail for disrespect for Danish law. If there are any children, they automatically will belong to the woman, as she is the most certain of the parents of them. If there is any imam that refuses to accept the divorce, they too go to jail - for disrespect for Danish law. Or maybe they can just be sent back to their country of origin, as they demonstrate they do not want to submit to Danish law, something that should be a requirement for being allowed to enter Denmark in the first place. Also - they should lose the right to serve in Denmark as imams anymore - since they are not willing to respect Danish law.

It should be required that everyone who is granted access to stay in Denmark agree to that Danish law is above any religious law. This will be difficult for Muslims, I know, but, it is also the reason why Muslims who regard Sharia law as above other laws do not fit into a country with a non-sharia constitutional law.
Muslims willing to respect the constitutional law as the highest law - who is willing to integrate should not get the punishment as disrespect of the law of the country should give.

Reply->

Peter Fieldman • Mar 4, 2020 at 05:35

For all the talk in the EU about human rights and equality between sexes, politicians seem to be scared about making it clear to Muslims - and all other religions or sects - that the State decrees the laws of the country and sharia law and anything else are illegal and will not be tolerated. Anyone who cannot or will not comply with our laws have the freedom to move to another country.

Reply->

Necil • Mar 4, 2020 at 05:32

Religious orders are no more valid in 21st century, all depends upon civil laws and regulations. Civil courts should be authoritative to decide for a divorce, regardless of any religious tales and stories.

Reply->