Практика застосування норм ісламського сімейного права в окремих країнах Європи та досвід України

Abstract

Ukraine is a secular state, which is provided for by the Constitution and a number of laws. Religious rites of marriage are not the basis for a woman and a man to have the rights and obligations of a spouse. Nevertheless, there is a need to determine how religious marriages are perceived in Ukraine. This article examines the application of Islamic law in the secular legal systems of Ukraine and other European countries with the aim of determining its problems and prospects in the domestic legal system. As a sample for comparison, we took some of the most problematic aspects of Islamic law and its application in European countries, in particular with the largest Muslim communities (the activities of the Sharia Councils in the United Kingdom, the problems of recognizing polygamous marriages in France, the marriage and divorce practices in Germany and Finland). We studied a few exemplary cases from Ukrainian judicial practice, which allowed us to understand how Ukrainian courts consider the issue of recognition of religious Muslim marriages concluded in Ukraine and abroad. Thus, we discovered in many respects the general trends in the regulation of family legal relations among European Muslim minorities. Just like in UK and Germany, Ukrainian Muslims consider three types of registration of their marriage: state, religious and state registration of religious marriage. In Finland and the aforementioned countries, as well as in Ukraine, the third option is the most common. Having also analysed domestic judicial practice, we found that Ukrainian courts, even though they don’t officially recognize religious marriages, still consider them as an additional argument for establishing the fact that a man and a woman live in the same household without marriage, which in turn generates certain legal consequences in accordance with Ukrainian family and civil legislation.