While some sociologists argue that forced marriages arranged by parents are no longer proceeding in Britain, others are sill in doubt. In particular Western feminists feel that the Islamic religion restricts female Muslims from freedom and therefore see it as patriarchal. In contrast, Black/Asian feminist writers accuse Western feminists for having ignorant "euro centric" attitudes towards an understanding of the Islamic law. Therefore in relation to my rational, arguments based on Western romanticism and arranged marriages will be referred to. Also the influence of Western values on Pakistani Muslim marriages in Britain will also be focused upon. .
Firstly it is important to embark on the differences between the Islamic law and the traditional Pakistani marriage system. Asian radical feminist writer, Parveen Shaukat Ali distinguishes between the Pakistani culture and Muslim religion. .
The Pakistanis believed that arranged marriages brought families together and helped maintain customs. As a result arranged marriages were seen as a contract between two families, not between two individuals. Therefore the two individuals usually had no say in their choice of partner. Ali argues the former arranged marriage system in Pakistani culture is:.
" Under the influence of Hinduism" 1 .
However in Islam Ali states that:.
"The current practice of completely denying children the right to be consulted is un-Islamic in the sense that in Islam marriage is a contract, in which consent of the parties is a religious necessity, and consent of the parents alone cannot fulfil this Quranic obligation". 2.
Therefore the custom based on parents arranging marriages without consent derives from Indo-Pakistani culture and is forbidden in the Islamic religion. However, the Pakistani tradition seems to be changing. A dated study based on two samples of students at the University of Karachi and Lahore (Korsan, 1969:156) showed the following results.