Interlegality in the Space of Sharia: Rethinking Islamic Family Law in Aceh, Indonesia

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30983/al-hurriyah.v11i1.11019

Keywords:

Interlegality, Legal Pluralism, Islamic Family Law, Aceh, Access to Justice

Abstract

This article examines how Islamic family law governance operates within a plural legal system in Aceh, Indonesia, and questions the adequacy of conventional legal pluralism in explaining such practices. While previous studies have recognized the coexistence of state law, Islamic law, and custom, they often remain descriptive and overlook the dynamic interaction between these systems. This study offers a novel contribution by developing the concept of interlegal governance to explain how legal norms intersect and are negotiated in practice, particularly in relation to vulnerable groups. Using a qualitative socio-legal approach based on structured literature synthesis (1994–2025), this article analyzes how legal actors navigate multiple legal forums in resolving family disputes. The findings identify four interlegal patterns: normative harmonization, selective incorporation, jurisdictional bifurcation, and forum navigation. These patterns demonstrate that Islamic family law in Aceh is not governed by a single authority but through dynamic interaction among legal systems. Importantly, the study reveals that interlegality is normatively ambivalent—it can expand access to justice while also reproducing inequalities, particularly affecting women and children. This article argues that understanding Islamic law in plural societies requires moving beyond legal pluralism toward an interlegal perspective that captures both interactions and its implications for justice.

References

Afrianty, Dina. Women and Sharia Law in Northern Indonesia: Local Women’s NGOs and the Reform of Islamic Law in Aceh. 1st ed. Routledge, 2015. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315744568.

Balashova, Irina N., and Associate Professor of the Department of Civil Procedure of the Saratov State Law Academy, PhD (Law). “From an Idea to a Concept: New Vectors for the Development of Alternative Ways to Resolve Disputes.” Arbitrazh-Civil Procedure, November 2024, 45–48. https://doi.org/10.18572/1812-383X-2024-12-45-48.

Bowen, John Richard. Islam, Law, and Equality in Indonesia: An Anthropology of Public Reasoning. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Buehler, Michael. The Politics of Shari’a Law: Islamist Activists and the State in Democratizing Indonesia. Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Bukido, Rosdalina, et al. “Reconciling Traditions: The Role of Local Wisdom in Mediating Divorce in Indonesia’s Religious Courts.” Khazanah Sosial 6, no. 2 (2024): 307–20. https://doi.org/10.15575/ks.v6i2.32809.

Chan, Cora. “From Legal Pluralism to Dual State: Evolution of the Relationship between the Chinese and Hong Kong Legal Orders.” SSRN Electronic Journal (2022). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4288387.

Cleland, A. “The Challenge of Antisocial Behaviour: New Relationships between the State, Children and Parents.” International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 19, no. 3 (2005): 395–420. https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebi029.

Cotterrell, Roger. Law, Culture and Society: Legal Ideas in the Mirror of Social Theory. Routledge, 2016.

De Sousa Santos, Boaventura. “Law: A Map of Misreading. Toward a Postmodern Conception of Law.” Journal of Law and Society 14, no. 3 (1987): 279–302. https://doi.org/10.2307/1410186.

Engle Merry, Sally. “Legal Pluralism.” Law & Society Review 22, no. 5 (1988): 869–96. https://doi.org/10.2307/3053638.

Entité des Nations Unies pour l’égalité des sexes et l’autonomisation des femmes, ed. Progress of the World’s Women 2011–2012: In Pursuit of Justice. United Nations, 2011.

Fajar, Mokhammad Samson, and Faris Al Badr. “Kafâ’ah Contextualization in an Effort to Form Harmonious Family in the Modern Era: An Analysis of Fazlur Rahman’s Double Movement.” AL-’ADALAH 17, no. 2 (2021): 203–30. https://doi.org/10.24042/adalah.v17i2.6568.

Fauziyah, Yayuk. “Ulama Perempuan dan Dekonstruksi Fiqih Patriarkis.” ISLAMICA: Jurnal Studi Keislaman 5, no. 1 (2014): 161–74. https://doi.org/10.15642/islamica.2010.5.1.161-174.

Feener, R. Michael. Shari’a and Social Engineering: The Implementation of Islamic Law in Contemporary Aceh, Indonesia. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Figueras Bates, Carolina. “Conflict Resolution in Online Mental Health Support Groups: The Role of Empathy and Informal Mediation.” Language and Dialogue 14, no. 2 (2024): 239–67. https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00171.fig.

Galanter, Marc. “Justice in Many Rooms: Courts, Private Ordering, and Indigenous Law.” The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 13, no. 19 (1981): 1–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.1981.10756257.

Griffiths, John. “What Is Legal Pluralism?” The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 18, no. 24 (1986): 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.1986.10756387.

Hassan, Rasha. “Formal Litigation or Informal Mediation.” هرمس 12, no. 1 (2023): 89–130. https://doi.org/10.21608/herms.2023.354100.

Hefner, Robert W. Shariʻa Politics: Islamic Law and Society in the Modern World. Indiana University Press, 2011.

Holzman-Gazit, Yifat. Land Expropriation in Israel: Law, Culture, and Society. Ashgate, 2007.

Huis, Stijn Cornelis van. Islamic Courts and Women’s Divorce Rights in Indonesia: The Cases of Cianjur and Bulukumba. Wöhrmann, 2015.

Isiksel, Turkuler. “Global Legal Pluralism as Fact and Norm.” Global Constitutionalism 2, no. 2 (2013): 160–95. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045381713000130.

Krisch, Nico. Beyond Constitutionalism: The Pluralist Structure of Postnational Law. Oxford University Press, 2011.

Leveque, Kate, and Anne Cartwright. “Navigate Various Legal Issues Surrounding Workforce Reductions.” Campus Legal Advisor 19, no. 4 (2018): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1002/cala.30915.

Lombardi, Clark. State Law as Islamic Law in Modern Egypt: The Incorporation of the Sharīʿa into Egyptian Constitutional Law. Brill, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047404729.

Lowry, Joseph Edmund. Early Islamic Legal Theory: The Risāla of Muḥammad Ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī. Brill, 2007.

Lukito, Ratno. Legal Pluralism in Indonesia. Routledge, 2012. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203113134.

Maloko, M. Thahir, and Sippah Chotban. “Perlindungan Hak Asasi Perempuan dalam Hukum Islam [Protection of Women’s Rights in Islamic Law].” Jurnal Al-Ahkam: Jurnal Hukum Pidana Islam 6, no. 1 (2024): 54–68. https://doi.org/10.47435/al-ahkam.v6i1.2632.

Manan, Abdul. “Penemuan Hukum oleh Hakim dalam Praktek Hukum Acara di Peradilan Agama.” Jurnal Hukum dan Peradilan 2, no. 2 (2013): 189–202. https://doi.org/10.25216/jhp.2.2.2013.189-202.

Mayor, Susan. “Cancer Centre Provides Space for Patients to ‘Explore Their Thoughts.’” BMJ 336, no. 7651 (2008): 978. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39567.391586.DB.

McKinlay, John B., et al. “The Relative Contributions of Endocrine Changes and Social Circumstances to Depression in Mid-Aged Women.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 28, no. 4 (1987): 345–53. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136789.

Mir-Hosseini, Ziba. Marriage on Trial: Islamic Family Law in Iran and Morocco. I.B. Tauris, 2011.

Mostert, Thomas. “Manjusha Kuruppath. Staging Asia: The Dutch East India Company and the Amsterdam Theatre. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2017. 282 Pp. ISBN: 9789087282578. $55.00.” Itinerario 41, no. 3 (2017): 630–32. https://doi.org/10.1017/S016511531700078X.

Nasir, Muhammad. “Legislasi Hukum Keluarga di Aceh Pasca Otonomi Khusus.” Jurisprudensi: Jurnal Ilmu Syariah, Perundang-Undangan dan Ekonomi Islam 10, no. 1 (2018): 97–108. https://doi.org/10.32505/jurisprudensi.v10i1.873.

Nobles, Richard, and David Schiff. Law, Society and Community. Routledge, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315591681.

Noviyanti, Ririn. “Book Review: ‘Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Sharia.’” MAQASHID Jurnal Hukum Islam 1, no. 1 (2018): 19–37. https://doi.org/10.35897/maqashid.v1i1.123.

Nurlaelawati, Euis. Modernization, Tradition and Identity: The Kompilasi Hukum Islam and Legal Practice in the Indonesian Religious Courts. Amsterdam University Press, 2010.

Rokhmad, Abu. “Institutions and Contributions to Islamic Law in Indonesia’s Legal System.” Walisongo Law Review (Walrev) 3, no. 1 (2021): 21–44. https://doi.org/10.21580/walrev.2021.3.1.7282.

Roughan, Nicole. Authorities: Conflicts, Cooperation, and Transnational Legal Theory. Oxford University Press, 2018.

Salim, Arskal. Contemporary Islamic Law in Indonesia: Sharia and Legal Pluralism. Edinburgh University Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748693481.

Sarat, Austin, and William L. F. Felstiner. Divorce Lawyers and Their Clients: Power and Meaning in the Legal Process. Oxford University Press, 1995. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195063875.001.0001.

Silbey, Susan S., and Patricia Ewick. The Common Place of Law: Stories from Everyday Life. University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Smith, Andrew Christopher. “Gods in America: Religious Pluralism in the United States, Edited by Charles L. Cohen and Ronald L. Numbers, New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-19-993192-7. 386 Pages. $36.95 (Paperback).” The Muslim World 107, no. 3 (2017): 604–6. https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12203.

Stockreiter, Elke E. Islamic Law, Gender, and Social Change in Post-Abolition Zanzibar. Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Tamanaha, Brian Z. Legal Pluralism Explained: History, Theory, Consequences. Oxford University Press, 2021.

Tucker, Judith E. Women, Family, and Gender in Islamic Law. 1st ed. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Von Benda-Beckmann, Franz. “Who’s Afraid of Legal Pluralism?” The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 34, no. 47 (2002): 37–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.2002.10756563.

Walker, Neil. “Legalising Inter-Legality.” European Law Open 1, no. 1 (2022): 216–27. https://doi.org/10.1017/elo.2022.4.

Welchman, Lynn, ed. Women and Muslim Family Laws in Arab States: A Comparative Overview of Textual Development and Advocacy. Amsterdam University Press, 2010.

Zaelani, Abdul Qodir, et al. “An Implementation of the Joint Inheritance Division of Ethnic Groups in Lampung, Indonesia.” Samarah: Jurnal Hukum Keluarga dan Hukum Islam 7, no. 3 (2023): 1373–91. https://doi.org/10.22373/sjhk.v7i3.9125.

Downloads

Published

2026-06-10

How to Cite

Fajar, M. S., Zaelani, A. Q., & Rajafi, A. (2026). Interlegality in the Space of Sharia: Rethinking Islamic Family Law in Aceh, Indonesia. Al-Hurriyah: Jurnal Hukum Islam, 11(1), 54–73. https://doi.org/10.30983/al-hurriyah.v11i1.11019

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2026): June 2026

Section

Articles

Citation Check

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Mokhammad Samson Fajar, Ahmad Rajafi, Abdul Qodir Zaelani

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).