Application of Islamic law by country article 170, section 5 of the constitution, the jurisdiction of Kadhis’ court is limited to matters relating to "personal status, marriage, divorce or inheritance in proceedings in which all the parties profess the Muslim religion and submit to the jurisdiction of the Kadhi’s courts". Qaddafi merged civil and sharia courts in 1973. Civil courts now employ sharia judges who sit in regular courts of appeal and specialise in sharia appellate cases. The personal status laws are derived from Islamic law. It has a civil law system influenced by customary law. In urban areas, positive law is common. In rural areas
Ban on sharia law leaving other religious conciliators free to continue their work. "Any reform would have to impact equally on all faith communities, and it is not only Muslims who would object if federal legislators presumed to do that." Sharia law is explicitly banned in Quebec, upheld by a unanimous vote against it in 2005 by the National Assembly. In Ontario there was a "heated 20-month controversy" after Toronto lawyer Syed Mumtaz Ali declared in 2004 that an “Islamic Institute of Civil Justice” would begin "arbitrating family matters on the basis of sharia law", accompanied by a warning that Muslims who did not