Islamic Law and Paradox of Domination and Resistance

Abstract

Judicial divorce symbolises women’s resistance to the domination of local interpretations and practices of Muslim family law in Lombok, such as male arbitrary repudiation and polygamy. In this pattern, husbands hold the privilege to terminate marital unions unilaterally and remarry without their wives’ consent. These practices find their grounds in classical-medieval Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), which is endorsed by the custom of patriarchal society. It is by turning to the court that women attempt to subvert such hegemonic discourses. By examining divorce cases from the religious courts, and looking at their broader socio-religious and cultural contexts, this study attempts to propose an analysis of judicial divorce as a locus of women’s resistance against male domination endorsed by local practices of Islamic law, customary law and state law, and examines an important dimension of contemporary practice of Islamic family law, which reveals patterns of domination and resistance.