Kenyan Christian and Muslims are up in arms against each other regarding a recent decision to include the kadhi (Qazi) court (Muslim Judge practicing law as per Sharia rule) in the national constitution. In last June, more then 600 delegates from Kenya met to discuss a draft constitution drawn up by the Kenya Constitution Review Commission (just at the start of the National Constitutional Conference)
Muslims there requested the commission to include a clause in the draft to extend the jurisdiction of Islamic courts to the National level and they also be allowed to rule in matters of commercial & civil disputes; so on that request, Commission included a clause in the draft.
It is important to note here that these tribunals have been in existence for several decades. The Islamic courts are practice fully at the local level; there they deal with matters relating to marriage, divorce and inheritance.
The Q azi (Islamic) courts had been in operation long before but came into Constitution in 1963 and is being anchored in the Constitution under Article 66 (8), As per Article 66 (12) of the constitution "the jurisdiction of a Qazi court shall extend to the determination of questions of Muslim law relating to personal status, marriage, divorce or inheritance in proceedings in which all the parties profess the Muslim religion."
Out of 36 states of Nigeria, 12 of them have adopted for Islamic law - or 'shariah'
As per the Muslim view Islamic courts are necessary because Sharia laws and National laws differ from each other on the issue of inheritance, marraige and divorce. Like; on the issue of “inheritance upon death”, in the national law it all depends on how one write his will but as per Islamic law, Quran outlines clearly who can inherit from whom and in what proportions, and this cannot be altered whatsoever.
There are various statistics on the number of Muslims in Kenya.
