Muslim Arbitration Tribunal operates within the framework of English law and does not constitute a separate Islamic legal system. Under the Act they are deemed to be "arbitration tribunals". The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal has no powers to grant a divorce which is valid in English and Welsh law. A "talaq" can be granted to recognise divorce. A sharia marriage has no bearing on personal status under UK law. The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal has no jurisdiction on criminal matters but can attempt reconciliation between spouses. Dominic Grieve of the Conservative Party has stated: “If it is true that these tribunals are passing binding decisions
Ban on sharia law "never existed" and he only wanted to "raise attention" to sharia. The Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD) condemned the activities. The issue of the supremacy of sharia has arisen in Greece where a Muslim woman (Chatitze Molla Sali), was left her husband's estate in his will (a Greek document registered at a notary’s office) when he died in March 2008. Her in-laws immediately challenged the bequest with the local mufti (a Muslim jurist and theologian) in the name of sharia law, "which forbids Muslims to write wills" (Islamic law rather than the inheritee determining who gets what from