Inland Revenue to Recognise Polygeny?

It would most certainly have come as a surprise to learn of the Inland Revenue’s intention to exempt second (and maybe third or fourth) wives from inheritance tax. Whether this is a case of the government becoming more ‘family friendly’ or a ploy to get more people into the tax net is going to be a cause for speculation.

Whatever the case maybe, it is further example of the endeavour of people like Ahmed Thomson from the Association of Muslim Lawyers, who have been tirelessly campaigning to incorporate Shariah into British domestic law.

However, Muslims should be under no illusion that we continue to live in a society which may tolerate multiple ‘mistresses’ or partners but still has bigamy laws in place. Nevertheless, there are hopefuls signs that where Muslims maybe inadvertently penalized for following their Deen, gradually steps are being taken to make provisions for them.

We saw this with the abolition of second-tier stamp duty for Islamic mortgages last year incorporated in the 2003 Finance Bill and have generally seen an intent by the government to at least listen to suggestions of incorporating ‘non-controversial’ elements of Shariah into UK civil law.