Owais Qarni
Founder & Principal
Founder and Principal of LawFiq, bringing Islamic principles and the English legal context together. An Accredited Mediator and Hafiz al-Qur’an, he works across English, Arabic and Urdu.
About LawFiq
Built for the space between principle and law.
Muslims in Britain live with two sets of consequences: what their faith asks of them, and what English law will recognise. LawFiq exists for the space between the two. A UK advisory company in London.
Why LawFiq exists
The gap is quiet until it is not.
A nikah does not, by itself, make a couple married in English law. A will written with sincere Faraid intentions may not survive probate. Two partners who agreed everything in trust have also agreed, without knowing it, to the defaults of an Act of 1890. None of these people were careless: a religious commitment does not create legal consequences by itself, and an English document does not reflect Islamic intentions unless someone made sure it did.
Families and businesses usually discover the gap only when something goes wrong: a death, a separation, a dispute between partners. LawFiq was founded to close it earlier, in the ordinary course of getting things done.
- Faith does not write itself into law. The religious act and the legal act are different things. Marriage & Nikah
- Documents do not read intentions. A will honours the shares only if it is drafted to. Wills & Inheritance
- Silence is still an agreement. English law fills in what partners leave unsaid. Partnerships
Two traditions, one conversation
Understanding both changes the advice.
What faith asks
Islamic principles
Obligations of marriage and inheritance, the terms on which wealth may be shared, the duty to settle disputes honourably. These are precise, and they are not optional to the people who hold them.
What the law recognises
England and Wales
What counts as a marriage, who inherits without a will, what a partnership is when nothing is written, when an agreement binds. Equally precise, and indifferent to intentions it was never told about.
An adviser who knows one side well gives half an answer with full confidence. LawFiq was built so that both sides sit at the same table, and the advice reflects both.
How LawFiq works
Understand. Map. Structure.
The same three moves, whatever the subject.
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Understand
What the Islamic principle requires here, and what you are trying to honour. Our scholars establish this, not a checkbox version of it.
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Map
Where English law stands on the same facts: what it recognises, what it assumes, and what it will enforce, including the parts that are inconvenient.
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Structure
A practical route that respects both wherever that is possible, documented to standards the law will uphold.
Where the two do not meet
Not every tension can be resolved. Some outcomes the law permits, faith does not; some obligations faith imposes, the law will not enforce. When that is so, we say it, and set out the choices it leaves you with. Pretending otherwise would be the one thing we are not for.
The people
Scholars, academics and advisers who live in both worlds.
Shaykh Saad Al-Deen Al-Dhafiri
Islamic Board
A scholar of Shariah, Fiqh and Usul: a graduate of the Shariah College of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, with Master’s study in Fiqh and Usul and doctoral study ongoing. His wider study spans Islamic economics, AAOIFI standards and the four Sunni schools, alongside multiple Qur’anic ijazat.
Dr Hafiz Muhammad Siddique
Academic Board
An academic specialising in Islamic law, Muslim family law and women’s rights. He holds a PhD in Islamic Law, has undertaken postdoctoral work at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, and serves as an Assistant Professor in Shariah and Law.
Syed Ali Zakir
Consultant Solicitor
An SRA-regulated solicitor associated with LawFiq, supporting matters that require regulated legal input.
Scholarship and practice
Serious scholarship, serious law.
We sometimes describe LawFiq as the place where Madinah meets Oxford. It is shorthand, not a boast. The Islamic Board’s scholarship is rooted in the Shariah College of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi; the Academic Board’s in doctoral and postdoctoral work in Islamic law at the University of Oxford. Neither institution is affiliated with LawFiq. What the phrase describes is a standard: the Islamic side of the advice is held to the rigour of classical scholarship, and the English side to the rigour of the academy and the profession.
On the legal side, LawFiq is a UK advisory company, not a law firm. Where regulated legal services are required, these are provided by our partner SRA-regulated law firm. Syed Ali Zakir, LawFiq’s Consultant Solicitor, is an SRA-regulated solicitor; that is his own professional status, and it does not make LawFiq a law firm.
Advice you can question
Every position we take can be traced to its source, on both sides. If you want to know why, ask. A good answer survives the question.
In plain terms
What LawFiq is, and is not
LawFiq is
A UK advisory company
- Advice on how Islamic principles and English law apply to your family or business, and coordination of what needs to happen.
- Mediation of family and business disputes, led by an Accredited Mediator.
- Education and training, and specialist input for institutions.
LawFiq is not
And does not pretend to be
- A firm of solicitors, or regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
- A financial adviser: we do not promote or arrange investments.
- A religious court, or a regulator of anyone.
- A guarantee of any outcome.
Company details, the regulatory position in full, and the terms on which this website is provided are on the Legal & Regulatory Information page.
Languages and audiences
Book a consultation
Talk to someone who understands both.
A confidential first conversation about where you stand in both frameworks, and what your realistic options are.
Book a consultation
Or call 020 3930 1088