When Classical Fiqh Encounters the State: Reconfiguring Islamic Family Law in Indonesia’s Plural Legal Order

Abstract

The relationship between classical Islamic jurisprudence and modern state regulation represents a central issue in the development of Islamic family law in contemporary Muslim societies. In Indonesia, the governance of family relations reflects a plural legal environment in which classical fiqh, state legislation, and social practices coexist and interact in shaping legal norms. This study aims to examine how Islamic family law is reconfigured through the encounter between classical fiqh and state law within Indonesia’s plural legal order. The research employs a qualitative socio-legal approach that combines doctrinal analysis of classical Islamic legal texts with the examination of statutory regulations governing family law in Indonesia. Primary legal sources include Law No. 1 of 1974 on Marriage and the Compilation of Islamic Law, while classical jurisprudential works such as Al-Majmu‘, Al-Mughni, and Bidayat al-Mujtahid are used to identify the normative foundations of Islamic family law. The findings indicate that classical fiqh continues to provide the ethical and doctrinal basis for understanding marriage and family relations, particularly regarding the contractual nature of marriage, the reciprocal rights and obligations of spouses, and the principle of justice within the family. At the same time, the Indonesian state has institutionalized Islamic family law through legislative frameworks and judicial institutions that regulate marriage registration, polygamy, and family rights. The interaction between these two sources of legal authority demonstrates the operation of legal pluralism in Indonesian Islamic family law, where religious jurisprudence and state governance coexist and influence each other. The study concludes that Islamic family law in Indonesia represents a dynamic legal field shaped by the continuous negotiation between classical jurisprudential traditions and modern state regulation. Understanding this interaction provides important insight into the transformation of Islamic law within contemporary plural legal systems