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"
Islamic Sharia Council of January 2012. The council has no legal authority in the United Kingdom, and cannot enforce any penalties; many Muslims would appear voluntarily to accept the rulings made by the ISC. The Islamic Sharia Council says it is "devoted to the articulation of classical Islamic principles in a manner that provides a platform for Islam to be the cure of all humanity's ills." According to "The Economist" magazine its "two main founders come from purist schools of Islam, the Deobandis and the Salafis". A rival service, the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, was founded in 2007 by followers of the Barelvi school