The Discourse and Practice of Islamic Family Law in Indonesia

Abstract

Family law is the most powerful law practiced in Islamic history, but this does not mean that it avoids the demands of changing times. Today, there are no less than thirteen problems related to family law that have arisen in the Muslim world. This problem arises not only because of demands for changing times, but also because of efforts to unify, codify and legislate Islamic law in a number of Muslim countries. This problem requires not only solutions but also reforms. This study aims to examine the model of understanding, practicing, reforming and transforming Islamic law in Indonesia and its impact on the position of standard classical fiqh books and the independence of judges in the Religious Courts. This research is a non-doctrinal normative qualitative research type. This study found a variety of models in the exploration, practice and reform of family law in Indonesia. The impact of the reform and transformation of family law in Indonesia is that classical fiqh books are no longer used as the main reference and the Religious Court System is closer to the civil law system. However, the reform and transformation of family law in Indonesia did not reduce the independence of religious judges in exploring and discovering more contextual Islamic law.