History

Since the mass migration of the Muslim community to the UK in the 1950s and 60s, Muslims were faced with a challenge of adhering to the English Legal System whilst still preserving their personal practices of Islamic Sacred Law.

Unfortunately, very few if any organisations have succeeded in this challenge. As a result, the Muslim community found itself adhering to the principles of Islamic Sacred Law in personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and wills in complete isolation to English law. In the event of a conflict or dispute, there were no official channels for individuals to use in order to resolve these issues.

People were instead forced to resort to unregulated Shariah Councils and the local Imams to provide resolutions to their problems. Any decision reached would of course have no backing of the law and often raised more questions than answers.

The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal was established in 2007 to provide a viable alternative for the Muslim community seeking to resolve disputes in accordance with Islamic Sacred Law. Under the remit of the Arbitration Act 1996, MAT acts as an effective, efficient and unique Alternate Dispute Resolution organisation which deals with Islamic Sacred Law within the context of the English Legal System.