Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T09:46:15.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Expanding a Formal Role for Islamic Law in the Indonesian Legal System: The Case of Mu’Amalat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2015

Alfitri
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Contemporary conflicts over efforts to expand the role of Islamic law in the national legal system of Indonesia are so intense that they undermine reasoned public debate about this question. They are part of a long-standing polemic, not only about the role of Shariah in Indonesia generally but about the specific question of whether the Jakarta Charter, which references obligations to obey Islamic law, should be restored as part of the Constitution. This article is an attempt to revive the neglected academic discourse on the role of Islamic jurisprudence in Indonesian law, and to move beyond the confused polemics to a thoughtful consideration of where Islamic law fits in a non-Islamic state such as Indonesia. Because Indonesia is a secular state, the Shariah as a whole is not enforced by the state, but the Shariah has a significant meaning for Muslims in Indonesia because it provides the norms distinguishing the obligatory and recommended from those actions which are neutral, disapproved and prohibited in Muslims' lives. Moreover, some elements of Islamic jurisprudence in personal law have been absorbed into positive law in Indonesia through the decisions of religious courts, which have existed since the Dutch colonialism,3 as currently regulated by Law No. 7/1989. The Compilation of Islamic Law No. 1/1991 essentially functions as the legal code for all Muslims who must resort to the religious courts for the adjudication of disputes involving marriage, divorce, inheritance and waqf. Thus, consideration of the propriety of attempts to extend Islamic law to matters of property and of contract is appropriate at this time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , 2007 , pp. 249 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. The Jakarta Charter was a proposal from the subcommittee of the Investigating Committee for the Preparation of Indonesian Independence (BPUPKI) to resolve the controversies around Islam's role in the state in 1945. It proposed to add several additional words to the first principle of Pancasila “Belief in God,” namely “with the obligation for adherents of Islam to carry out Islamic law.” This addition made reference to the enforcement of Islamic law in Indonesia. The Jakarta Charter was intended to serve as the preamble of the 1945 Indonesian Constitution. Yet, since it comprised the crucial phrase, “belief in God with the obligation for adherents of Islam to carry out Islamic law” to the concept of unity of newly established Indonesia, which is very pluralistic in nature, the Jakarta Charter was dropped from the preamble of the Constitution in 1945 by Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta, the incumbent president and vice president. See e.g. Hefner, Robert W., Civil Islam: Muslim and Democratization in Indonesia (Princeton U. Press 2000)Google Scholar; Johns, Anthony H., Indonesia: Islam and Cultural Pluralism, in Islam in Asia; Religion, Politic and Society 202 (Esposito, John L ed., Oxford U. Press 1987)Google Scholar; Adnan, Zifirdaus, Islamic Religion: Yes, Islamic (Political) Ideology: No! Islam and the State in Indonesia, in State and Civil Society in Indonesia 441 (Budiman, Arif ed., Centre S.E. Asian Stud., Monash U. 1990)Google Scholar.

2. Praja, Juhaya S., Kata Pengantar, in Djatnika, Rachmat, Hukum Islam di Indonesia, Perkembangan dan Pembentukan xv (Remaja Rosdakarya 1991)Google Scholar (Indonesian).

3. Hooker, M.B., Introduction: Islamic Law in South-east Asia, 4 Austrl. J. Asian L. 219 (2002)Google Scholar.

4. See Law No. 7/1989 concerning Religious Courts.

5. Hooker, supra n. 3, at 221.

6. See Mustafa Ahmad az-Zarqa’, Al-Madkhal al-Fiqh al-‘Amm: al-Fiqh al-Islami fi Saubih al-Jadid I: 55 (n.d.). This book adopts a somewhat narrow definition of mu ’amalat that is law governing Islamic contract and property disputes. Others use this term to mean any Shariah law regulating other than ˋibadat (rules governing such Islamic rituals as five times daily prayer, fasting in Ramadan month, pilgirmage to Mecca, and so forth) which may range from civil law to criminal law.

7. See e.g. Mangla, Inayat U & Uppal, Jamshed Y, Islamic Banking: A Survey and Some Operational Issues, 2 Research Fin. Serv. 198 (1990)Google Scholar.

8. Law No. 3/2006 concerning the Amendment of Law No. 7/1989 of the Religious Courts, art. 49(ltr. i) and the Elucidation of Law No 3/2006 art. 49(ltr. i).

9. See MA Sudan Bentuk Pokja Penyusunan Kompilasi Hukum Muamalah Syari’ah (Nov. 6, 2006), http://www.hukumonline.com/detail.asp?id=15686&cl=Berita (accessed Oct. 29, 2007).

10. Id.

11. See Terbentur Soal Keberadaan Komite Perbankan Syariah RUU Perbankan Syariah (Apr. 10, 2007), http://www.hukumonline.com/detail.asp?id=16479&cl=Berita (accessed Apr. 13, 2007).

12. Id. Example of Shariah banks have breached fatwa is a case involving a reputable Shariah bank that breached a fatwa prohibiting Shariah banks to unilaterally raise the contract price during a murabahah because its creditor missed a credit payment, see Ada Apa dengan Badan Arbitrase Syariah? (Nov. 21, 2006), http://www.hukumonline.com/detail.asp?id=15765&cl=Fokus (accessed Nov. 22, 2006). Since the Central Bank of Indonesia—as the holder of monetary authority in charging to issue banking related regulation—does not endorse the fatwa, the case is not considered as a breach to banking regulation. Given this, the notion of “positivization” is relevant to the above fatwa's problem.

A murabahah is:

a financing arrangement by trading merchandises at the basic price, and with a profit making which is based on a mutual consent. Bank is the seller, while customer is the buyer. In the transaction, seller must tell the basic price of the product they have bought and determine an additional sum for profit. The payment can be done by credit in accordance to a mutual agreement.

See Bank Negara Indonesia, http://www.bni.co.id/english/produklayan/p_syariah.asp?section=4&sub=13 (accessed Aug. 4, 2005); or http://www.bni.co.id/Syariah/ProdukPembiayaan/MurabahahKonsumtifPegawai/tabid/186/Default.aspx (accessed Oct. 24, 2007).

13. See Cammack, Mark, Islam, Nationalism, and the State in Suharto's Indonesia, 17 Wis. Intl. L.J. 27, 40 (1999)Google Scholar.

14. Id. at 30.

15. See Azizy, Ahmad Qodri A., Ekletisisme Hukum Islam, Kompetisi antara Hukum Islam dan Hukum Umum 56–57 (Gama Media 2002)Google Scholar; al-Maududi, Sayyid Abul Al’a, Islamic Law and Constitution 52 (Jamaat-e-Islami Publications 1955)Google Scholar.

16. An-Naˋim, Abdullah Ahmed, Kata Pengantar, in Taha, Mahmoud Mohamed, Syariˋah Demokratik (The Second Message of Islam) 21 (Rachman, Nur trans., Lembaga Studi Agama dan Demokrasi 1996)Google Scholar (Indonesian).

17. Chapra, M. Umer, Islam and the Economic Challenge 247 (Islamic Found. Intl. Islamic Thought 1992)Google Scholar.

18. Djamil, Fathurrahman, Filsafat Hukum Islam 47 (Logos Wacana Ilmu 1997)Google Scholar (Indonesian).

19. Baderin, Mashood A., International Human Rights and Islamic Law 34 (Oxford U. Press 2003)Google Scholar.

20. Mudzhar, M. Atho, Social History Approach to Islamic Law, 61 Al Jamiˋah J. Islamic Stud. 78 (1998)Google Scholar. The fiqh was theorized and formularized through the process of ijtihad (the use of individual reasoning in legal matters) in what is known as the classical period, approximately the eighth and the ninth centuries. See e.g. Makdisi, George, The Significance of the Sunni Schools of Law in Islamic Religious History, 10 Intl. J. Middle E. Stud. 1 (1979)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21. Baderin, supra n. 19, at 34.

22. Id.

23. See An-Naˋim, supra n. 16, at 20.

24. See Asy-Syatibi, al-Muwafaqat fi Usul asy-Syariˋah II: 6. (Dar al-Kutub al-ˋllmiyyah, t. t.) (Arabic).

25. See al-Ghazali, , al-Mustasfa I: 139–140 (al-Maktabah at-Tijariyyah al-Kubra 1937)Google Scholar (Arabic).

26. Id. at I: 140.

27. Yusdani, and Mu’allim, Amir, Konfigurasi Pemikiran Hukum Islam 134 (Universitas Islam Indonesia Press 1999)Google Scholar (Indonesian).

28. Wahjono, Padmo, Budaya Hukum Islam dalam Perspektif Pembentukan Hukum di Masa Datang, in Dimensi Hukum Islam dalam Sistem Hukum Nasional: Mengenang 65 Tahun Prof. Dr. H. Bustanul Arifin, S.H. 175 (Amrullah, Ahmad & Arifin, Busthanul eds., Gema Insani Press 1996)Google Scholar (Indonesian).

29. Id.

30. Cf. id.

31. Cf. id.

32. Cf. id. at 175-176.

33. The word qanun is derived from Greek, absorbed into Arabic through Syrian. See Azizy, supra n. 15, at 57. It means “measurement tool” and, later, “norm” or “rule.” In Arabic, the verbal form of qanun is qanna, which means “to make law”; “to legislate.” Generally, the term qanun is used for law related to social relationships (mu’amalah bayn an-nas), and not for law related to worship (‘ibadah). In its development, the qanun refers to products of law (statutes, codes, acts, or regulations) in Islamic states or Muslim countries, which claim to comprise Islamic law, as a whole or part. The process of making the law (taqnin) still employs the procedure of law finding in Islamic law. However, it is conducted by an official institution founded by the state, such as the legislature. Thus, the result of taqnin is a legal result that contains the values of Shariah, endorsed and enforced by the state. See id.

34. As-Suyuti, , al-Ashbah wa an-Naza’ir fi al-Furuˋ 44 (Dar al-Fikr, 1415 H.)Google Scholar (Arabic).

35. See Djamil, supra n. 18, at 41. The Qur’anic verses stipulate the different forms of worship in Islam (prayer, fasting in Ramadan, paying zakat, pilgrimage to Mecca), which are further specified in the hadith of the Prophet. These regulations are specific so as to prevent Muslims from performing forms of worship considered heretical in Islam. Thus, in the vertical relationship, no worship can be performed unless one successfully argues that it is mandated by Allah and/or practiced by the Prophet.

36. Id. at 48.

37. This argumentation (dalil) is called ‘urf in Islamic legal theory discourse. Id.

38. In Islamic legal theory, however, the norm of neutrality does not mean “naked.” The norm of neutrality only prevails when one is considering the particularities (juz’i) of an activity.

39. See Asy-Syatibi, supra n. 24, at I:139-140.

40. Thus, if its application tends to something which is prohibited, the activity is prohibited. In Islamic legal theory, the argumentation (dalil) of sadd az-zari’ah is utilized to grasp the inclination of an act.

41. Asy-Syatibi, supra n. 24, at I:140. The mubah follows the norm of obligation (khadiman li ‘amr matlub al-fl’l). Such activity is only categorized as mubah in a particular instance(juz’i). However, as a general matter (kulli), the same activity may be prohibited. For example, the choice not to eat a particular meal or marry a particular person is a mubah activity, but choosing to eating nothing can endanger someone's life and choosing not to marry can cause one's lineage to become extinct. Thus, the choice to engage in some activities in general is prohibited since the core objectives of the Shariah include preserving life and lineage, see id.

42. Id. The mubah follows the norm of prohibition (khadiman li ‘amr matlub at-tark). In this type, an activity is classified as mubah only from its particular side, see id.

43. See id. at IV:198.

44. Cf. Saeed, Abdullah, Islamic Banking and Interest: A Study of Prohibition of Riba and its Contemporary Interpretation 38–39 (E.J. Brill 1996)Google Scholar.

45. Qur’an 2:275.

46. See Saeed, supra n. 44, at 89.

47. Id. at 39.

48. Bank Indonesia, Cetak Biru Pengembangan Perbankan Syariah Indonesia 5, http://www.bi.go.id/web/id/Riset+Survey+Dan+Publikasi/Publikasi/Publikasi+Lainnya/blue+print.htm (2002) [hereinafter Bank Indonesia, Cetak Biru]. An English version of the document is available in Bank Indonesia, The Blue Print of Islamic Banking Development in Indonesia http://www.bi.go.id/web/en/Riset+Survey+Dan+Publikasi/Publikasi/Other/blue+print+syaria.htm.(2002) [hereinafter Bank Indonesia, The Blue Print].

49. Id.

50. Id.; cf. Islamic Financial Markets 33 ff (Wilson, Rodney ed., Routledge 1990)Google Scholar.

51. Arifin, Zainul, Memahami Bank Syariah: Lingkup, Peluang, Tantangan dan Prospek 37, 212 (Alvabet 1999)Google Scholar (Indonesian).

52. Id. at 38.

53. Saeed, supra n. 44, at 95; see also Mangia & Uppal, supra n. 7, at 209.

54. Direktorat Penelitian dan Pengaturan Perbankan—Bank Indonesia, Ringkasan Pokok-Pokok Hasil Penelitian-Penelitian: Potensi, Preferensi dan Perilaku Masyarakat Terhadap Bank Syariah di Pulau Jawa 2 (Bank Indonesia, 12 2001)Google Scholar.

55. As mentioned above, there are three classifications of legal theory: first, legal aims as abstract norms; second, intermediate norms which are employed as the agent to achieve the legal aims; third, concrete norms as the application of both intermediate and abstract norms. See Wahjono, supra n. 28, at 175. With regard to the mu’amalat (and Islamic law in general), the maslahat constitutes the core objective of the Shariah revealed in Islam (maqasid asy-syari’ah). See Asy-Syatibi, supra n. 24, at II: 5. Therefore, the utility of the existence of the Shariah banking in Indonesia should also benefit all Indonesian people.

56. As-Suyuti, supra n. 34, at 44.

57. The prohibition against riba requires Muslim financers “to promote share-based financing and to prohibit riba. The implementation of this norm is expected to improve brotherhood and sincerity in facing financial uncertainty.” See Bank Indonesia, Cetak Biru, supra n. 48, at 9, or Bank Indonesia, The Blue Print, supra n. 48, at 9.

58. Id.; see also Choudhury, Masudul Alam, Studies in Islamic Science and Polity 110–111 (Macmillan Press 1998)Google Scholar.

59. Shiddiq means “to ensure high morality in bank management leading to honesty. Financial management should be conducted legitimately (halal) and prevent doubtful (subhat) and illegitimate (haram) activities.” See Bank Indonesia, Cetak Biru, supra n. 48, at 9, or Bank Indonesia, The Blue Print, supra n. 48, at 9.

60. Fathanah means “to ensure the bank is managed professionally in order to generate profit with manageable risks and to ensure the services is provided in manners (riˋayah) and sincerity (masˋuliyah).” See See Bank Indonesia, Cetak Biru, supra n. 48, at 9, or Bank Indonesia, The Blue Print, supra n. 48, at 9.

61. See Sjahdeini, Sutan Remy, Perbankan Islam & Kedudukannya dalam Tata Hukum Perbankan Indonesia vii (Pustaka Utama Grafiti 1999)Google Scholar (Indonesian).

62. Law No. 10/1998 concerning Banking, arts. 1(12), 6(n), 7(c), 8(1-2), 11(1, 4a), 13, 29(3), 37(1c). Amended Law No. 7/1992.

63. Id. art. 6.

64. Law No. 23/1999 concerning the Central Bank of Indonesia.

65. Sjahdeni, supra n. 60, at 133-140.

66. See id., at 138-140.

67. Id.

68. Supra n. 12.

69. Amanah is “to preserve mutual trust between capital owners (shahibul maal) and the trustee (mudharib) through honesty and prudentiality in the banking operations.” See Bank Indonesia, Cetak Biru, supra n. 48, at 9, or Bank Indonesia, The Blue Print, supra n. 48, at 9.

70. The Draft of Shariah Banking Law, art. 30, available from RUU Perbankan Syariah Masih Banyak Celah (Mar. 22, 2007), http://www.hukumonline.com/detail.asp?id=16395&cl=Berita (accessed Oct. 24, 2007).

71. Surat Keputusan Majelis Ulama Indonesia No. Kep-754/MUI/II/1999, http://www.mui.or.id/mui_in/product_2/dsn.php (accessed Oct. 24, 2007).

72. See Fatwa Dewan Syari'ah Nasional No: 16/DSN-MUI/IX/2000 Tentang Diskon Dalam Murabahah, http://www.mui.or.id/mui_in/product_2/fatwa.php?id:=23 (accessed Oct. 24, 2007).

73. See Fatwa Dewan Syari'ah Nasional No: 17/DSN-MUI/IX/2000 Tentang Sanksi Atas Nasabah Mampu Yang Menunda-Nunda Pembayaran, http://www.mui.or.id/mui_in/product_2/fatwa.php?id=24 (accessed Oct. 24, 2007).

74. See Bank Negara Indonesia, supra n. 12, http://www.bni.co.id/english/produklayan/p_syariah.asp?section=4&sub=13 (Aug. 4, 2005), or alternatively see http://www.bni.co.id/Syariah/ProdukPembiayaan/MurabahahKonsumtifPegawai/tabid/186/Default.aspx (accessed Oct. 24, 2007).

75. See Saeed, supra n. 44, at 76-95.

76. See Fatwa Dewan Syari’ah Nasional No: 17/DSN-MUI/IX/2000 Tentang Sanksi Atas Nasabah Mampu Yang Menunda-Nunda Pembayaran, supra n. 73.

77. Id.

78. Sjahdeni, supra n. 60, at 205.

79. Regarding the uneasy position of MUI in Indonesia, see Hosen, Nadirsyah, Behind the Scenes: Fatwas of Majelis Ulama in Indonesia (1975-1998), 15 J. Islamic Stud. 147 (2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.