See Mark De Young's article. Excerpt:
. . . Imams and mosques are performing marriage ceremonies that are not registered under English law.
As a direct result, about two-thirds of Muslim marriages are not registered. Consequently, women in such marriages have no choice but to go to sharia tribunals.
A more disturbing result of affording marriage arbitration to sharia courts is forced marriage. 2008 (the year after the establishment of the Muslim tribunals) saw an 80 percent increase in forced marriages. A government unit reported 8,000 forced marriages that year, including girls as young as 13. . . [more...]