The Civitas think-tank has published a report concluding that 85 Sharia courts, which are courts where people voluntarily submit their dispute to be resolved based on Islamic law, are now operating in the United Kingdom, The Guardian reports. The report's author, Denis MacEoin, warns that the non-Muslims are sometimes not allowed to know the rulings made by the court.

The Times Online previously reported that the British judicial system was enforcing the Sharia courts' rulings, causing concern that a parallel legal system was being created.

"Among the rulings ... we find some that advise illegal actions and others that transgress human rights standards as they are applied by British courts," states MacEoin's report, which gives a case where a woman was not allowed to marry a non-Muslim as an example.

The Guardian states that previous reports said there were only five Sharia courts operating in the United Kingdom.

However, some experts are not alarmed by the development.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a terrorism expert, wrote in The Weekly Standard's blog after the story initially broke that Muslims are not forced to use the courts.

"These sharia courts are not designed to apply criminal law: we will not suddenly see amputations and beheadings in Britain," he wrote.

Gartenstein-Ross did say he was concerned that female Muslims would be pressured by their communities into participating in the courts and questioned how the judges would be selected, given the wide range of views in Islam.