The unique legal architecture of Greece's Islamic courts

Wars & Conflicts · Published 17 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Within the European Union, Greece stands alone in possessing religious courts for Islam. This complex legacy stems from 19th-century treaties designed to manage minority rights as the Ottoman Empire receded, creating a modern legal landscape where Sharia still influences private family law.

The presence of Islamic religious courts in Greece is rooted in a series of international conventions between Greece and Turkey beginning in 1881. As the Ottoman Empire lost territories like Thessaly, these agreements provided the remaining Muslim population with religious freedoms and established the Mufti as a legal authority over 'personal status' issues—specifically family and succession laws. This framework was reinforced by the Athens Treaty of Peace in 1913 and further solidified by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.

The mandatory application of Sharia law for the Muslim minority became an international flashpoint when a woman from Komotini, Chatize Molla Sali, challenged inheritance rights in court. While Greece's secular justice system initially ruled in her favor, the Supreme Court overruled it, asserting that only a Mufti had the competency to decide on such matters within the Muslim community. This led the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to unanimously rule in 2018 that mandatory Sharia application violated the European Convention on Human Rights by discriminating against individuals.

In response to this ruling, Greece restricted the applicability of Sharia law in 2018; it can now only be used if all parties involved voluntarily accept its jurisprudence. Today, these religious courts primarily serve a minority of about 120,000 Greek citizens. This legal history exists alongside a diverse Muslim population, ranging from ethnic Turks and Pomaks in Western Thrace to large numbers of Albanian immigrants who often seek rapid assimilation by adopting Greek names and converting to Orthodoxy.

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