Islamic Sharia Council repay the dower to receive an Islamically recognized divorce. The Islamic Sharia Council must recognise a British divorce, by virtue of the law of the land, if the petitioner shows them a decree absolute. However, the Islamic Sharia Council is displeased if the dower remains unpaid. Writer, broadcaster and academic Myriam Francois-Cerrah has pointed to "serious problems" with the councils, citing a case in which a Muslim woman seeking advice was reportedly directed to a "controversial cleric" who urged her to give up her custody dispute with her husband and "hand over full custody of her seven year old child"
Ban on sharia law do harm to Muslims. The invalidation of a will and testament using sharia instructions was an example. That ruling and injunction were upheld by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on January 10, 2012. Missouri also passed a measure banning foreign law in 2013, but Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the bill "because of its potential impact on international adoptions." Two other states banning sharia were North Carolina, which prohibited state judges from considering Islamic law in family cases in 2013, and Alabama, where voters passed an Amendment to the State Constitution (72% to 28%) to "ban sharia" in 2014. David