The Constitutional Court will hear a request on Wednesday that Parliament and the president pass a law that recognises all Muslim marriages.

The application is by the Women's Legal Centre Trust, who will argue that the parties failed to discharge their constitutional obligations of protection by not providing for the recognition of all Muslim marriages in South Africa.

In a statement the Coalition of Muslim Women (CMW) said a draft Muslim Marriages Bill had been waiting to be tabled in Parliament since 2003.

"The CMW is of the belief that in the absence of a legal framework for the regulation of Muslim marriage and divorce, the married lives of Muslim women remain unpredictable and outside of their control.

"In the absence of such legislation, Muslims and especially women, face many hardships and challenges," the coalition said.

Some of the difficulties a lack of a legal framework posed included the fate of shared assets and financial responsibilities if a husband took another partner, and how a woman was protected from being divorced on the spot if the "Talaq" [a statement of divorce] is uttered in the heat of an argument.

"A host of cases prove that in the absence of legislation, parties are forced to seek relief from the courts. Not all parties are able to access the courts largely because of costs," the coalition said.

It believes that legislation will bring certainty to the matter and the courts will be bound to apply the legislation.

The applicants hope that the Constitutional Court will order that an act to cover these concerns be implemented within 18 months.