Islamic Family Law and the Right to Divorce: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Legal Empowerment in Pekanbaru
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55438/jile.v4i2.178Keywords:
Divorce, Women's rights, Islamic law, Legal empowermentAbstract
This study aims to critically examine the extent to which Islamic family law in Pekanbaru conducted from January to March 2025 empowers women in exercising their right to divorce. Grounded in a socio-legal and gender justice framework, the research explores both formal legal provisions and the lived experiences of Muslim women navigating divorce processes through the Religious Courts. Using a qualitative method, data were collected through in-depth interviews with divorced women, judges, and legal practitioners, and content analysis of relevant legal documents and court decisions. The findings reveal a complex interplay between religious norms, legal structures, and cultural expectations. While Islamic family law formally recognizes women's rights to divorce through mechanisms such as khulʿ and fasakh, bureaucratic hurdles, patriarchal interpretations, and social stigma often limit women's access to these rights in practice. Women who successfully obtained a divorce demonstrated strong legal awareness and support networks, suggesting that empowerment is highly dependent on socio-economic and educational factors. The study discusses the gap between normative Islamic principles that uphold justice and the structural barriers that hinder their realization in practice. It concludes that enhancing women's legal empowerment requires reforming procedural aspects of family law and promoting community-level awareness and gender-sensitive interpretations of Islamic jurisprudence.
References
Ali, K. (2016). Marriage and slavery in early Islam. Harvard University Press.
Blackburn, S. (2004). Women and the State in Modern Indonesia. Cambridge University Press.
Buehler, M. (2016). The politics of Shari'a law: Islamist Activists and the State in democratizing Indonesia. Cambridge University Press.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
Cammack, M., Young, L., & Heaton, H. (2007). Legislating social change in an Islamic society: Indonesia's marriage law. The American Journal of Comparative Law, 44(1), 45–73.
Golub, S. (2003). Beyond rule of law orthodoxy: The legal empowerment alternative. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Hooker, M. B. & Anshor, N. (2003). Legal pluralism and marriage law in Indonesia. Australian Journal of Asian Law, 5(2), 219–234.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage Publications.
Lindsey, T. & Pausacker, H. (Eds.). (2016). Religion, law, and intolerance in Indonesia. Routledge.
Nasir, M. (2009). The implementation of Islamic law in Indonesia: The case of marriage and divorce. Islamic Law and Society, 16(1), 25–48.
Nurlaelawati, E. (2010). Modernization, tradition and identity: The kompilasi hukum Islam and legal practice in the Indonesian religious courts. Amsterdam University Press.
Salim, A. (2008). Challenging the secular state: The Islamization of law in modern Indonesia. University of Hawai‘i Press.
Van Doorn-Harder, N. (2006). Women shaping Islam: Indonesian women reading the Qur'an. University of Illinois Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Rio Desra, Andri Putra, Aldi Rinaldi, Maulidya Nur Rahma, Mesra Netti
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
