The Formation of Islamic Law in Indonesia: The Interplay between Islamic Authorities and the State

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In the course of the early twentieth century, Muslim majority countries, including Indonesia, attempted to transform Sharia into Islamic law. This transformation has encompassed diverse orientations and interests of Islamic scholars and the (colonial) state. The transformation in Indonesia deserves a special inquiry as Indonesia is a nation with a high degree of cultural heterogeneity. This article addresses the extent to which the interplay between Islamic authorities and the state has shaped the coming into being of Islamic law and its judicial institutions. I argue that Islamic authorities and the state have simultaneously taken part in revising and articulating the content, meaning, and scope of Islamic law. Islamic authorities had to adjust Islamic law with modern law and national sovereignty to make its norms possible. However, for Muslims, the issue was not only the formation of the national legal system but rules on the application of matrimonial matters as stipulated in Islamic legal doctrines. Through Islamic family law, devout Muslims found it important to claim a clearer position of the relationship between Islam and state authority.