In Aligning Religious Law and State Law: Negotiating Legal Muslim Marriage in Pasuruan, East Java, Muhammad Latif Fauzi investigates the extent to which the Indonesian state has regulated Muslim marriage, how a local community in Pasuruan, East Java practices and negotiates the regulation and how local officials deal with their practices.
Instead of reforming the Marriage Law which would only stir up controversies, the Indonesian government has used a citizensâ rights approach to control marriage and to guide people towards compliance with the state legal framework.
In everyday practice of marriage bureaucracy, the state agency in charge of Muslim marriage registration needs to maintain its image as a body capable of maintaining the proper balance between religious tradition and modern administration of a marriage.
The practice of Muslim marriage registration has still left some leeway in which informality can function. This informality is important as it offers the capacity to make a compromise between peopleâs deep interest in religious law and state law.
The state officials in charge of marriage administration on the frontier levels are amenable to adopting lenient approach towards marriage registrations, which is the key to securing the functioning of state law.
Muhammad Latif Fauzi (Ph.D. 2021), Leiden University, is an Associate Professor of Islamic law at UIN Raden Mas Said Surakarta. He has published articles and book chapters, including âWomen in Local Politics: The Byelaw on Prostitution in Bantul,â In Islam, Politics and Change: The Indonesian Experience after the Fall of Suharto (Leiden University Press, 2016).
List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgements Abbreviations
1 Introduction
â1âUnregistered Marriage and the Plurality of Legal Norms
â2âMarriage: Sharīʿa Law, State Law and Bureaucratisation
â3âFocus and Setting
â4âMethod
â5âStructure of the Book
Part 1 Law and Institution
2 Regulating Muslim Marriage: A Shift to Citizensâ Rights-Based Approach
â1âIntroduction
â2âLegal Marriage: Dilemmas and Compromises
â3âSharīʿa-Based Regulations and the Steep Stairways to Legislation
â4âContesting Maá¹£laḥa
â5âA New Trend: Citizensâ Rights Approach
â6âConclusion
3 Reforming the Bureaucracy of Muslim Marriage
â1âIntroduction
â2âThe Indonesian Muslim Marriage Bureaucracy
â3âThe Re-centralisation of Penghulu
â4âCorruption, Informality, and the Need for Reform
â5âMuslimsâ Attitudes towards the Reform
â6âThe Information System of Marriage Registration
â7âConclusion
Part 2 Legal Practice
4 Presenting Pasuruan: Present-Day Islam and Cultural Life
â1âIntroduction
â2âHistorical Context
â3âCultural, Religious and Political Life
â4âSocial Life in Sumbersari
â5âConclusion
5 Performing Marriage: The Influences of Cultural and Islamic Norms
â1âIntroduction
â2âPresenting Munir-Ulfa
â3âPengarep and Cultural Norms
â4âKyai: Seeking Religious âMiddle Groundâ
â5âMenghalalkan: Marrying to Legalise Relationship
â6âConclusion
6 Registering Marriage: The Relationship between Penghulus and Modins
â1âIntroduction
â2âMarriage Registration and the State-in-Society Approach
â3âBuilding an Internal Synergy
â4âRegistering Marriages and Remarriages
â5âTwofold Akad Nikah and TaʾkÄ«d al-NikÄḥ
â6âConclusion
7 Legalising Unregistered Marriage: Reasons and Strategies
â1âIntroduction
â2âWhy Legalising an Unregistered Marriage?
â3âLegal Identity and Citizensâ Rights
â4âAdministrative Transgression in Marriage Registration
â5âIsbat Nikah by Islamic Courts
â6âChild Legitimation
â7âConclusion
8 Conclusion
â1âRegulating Muslim Marriage and Public Debates
â2âCorruption, Informality, and the Reformed Fees
â3âPresent-Day Cultural Life in Pasuruan
â4âEveryday Practice of Marriage and the Functioning of the Bureaucracy of Marriage
â5âUnregistered Marriages and Seeking State Recognition
Glossary Bibliography Index
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