With great pleasure we wish to congratulate Aina Khan, Family Law specialist, for her outstanding work which has seen her receive an Order of the British Empire (OBE) award for her service to the protection of women and children in unregistered marriages.
Aina Khan has been the head of Law department since 2012 and has demonstrated her commitment to Islamic Family Law in the recent Channel 4 documentary “The Truth About Muslim Marriage.” Aina works to amend the Marriage Act 1949 to make it compulsory for all faiths to register their marriage in the UK in her campaign “Register our Marriage.” It is her extensive knowledge of Sharia Law, with more than 25 years specialising in Islamic Marriage and Divorce that has given her the experience needed to support both her clients and the broader community in making change happen.
The honour awarded recognises Aina’s dedication to her work as an Islamic Family Law Solicitor, which sees her represent couples married through an Islamic marriage, called the Nikah, who lack marital rights in the UK since their marriage is not recognised by UK law. Aina also has extensive experience supporting women in Islamic marriages who seek a divorce but do not have their husband’s permission, as well as those wishing to recover their ‘Mehr’, which contains the spouses’ financial settlement, under UK law. Aina’s position is that all faiths’ marriages should have access to legal protection in the UK, which has gained significant support from the media, alongside this demonstration of Royal approval.
Aina states that “being from a Muslim Pakistani background…this award is good news for Muslims, Pakistanis and for women breaking through the glass ceiling.”
Read more here.