I certainly agree that they have no place in the UK, Sharia councils (which is what the courts are properly called) have legal status as mediation and arbitration bodies under the Arbitration Act 1996.
They claim to be impartial arbiters on solely “religious” matters but in fact they generally act for one party rather than solving disputes. They often rule on family matters such as divorces (which they have no power to grant) and child custody disputes (which they also have no power to decide). The judges are always men, they are not usually “a neutral third party” but generally make their judgements along Islamic lines where women are treated as second class trash whose evidence is not to be trusted. In short they uphold the theory and practice of the strong hold and control Muslim men have over women.
When criticised they usually say that women disagreeing with their decisions can always have the matter heard in a proper court of law. Nothing is further from the truth. Most Muslim women have no resources nor have they the confidence to take matters into their own hands, such is their subservience to men. They face abiding by the Sharia Council’s decision or will be subject to disgrace and degradation by their family. Furthermore many Muslim women wishing to divorce often feel the need to get a religious (i.e. Sharia) divorce for cultural reasons and also because if a civil divorce is not accepted by a country that follows Sharia and they have remarried, they risk the death penalty for adultery.
It is an utter disgrace that such institutions are allowed to practice in the UK. But that’s one of the prices we have paid in the failed experiment called “multiculturalism”.