Islamic Law and Adat Encounter: the Experience of Indonesia
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ISLAMIC LAW AND ADAT ENCOUNTER: THE EXPERIENCE OF INDONESIA Ratno Lukito 1.D: 9548 149 A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partiaI fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Islamic Studies Institute of Islamic Studies McGiH University Montreal Canada 1997 O Ratno Lukito National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1*1 ofCrnada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services senrices bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Weliington Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Wwa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your fik Votre reftirenw Our iVe Notre reléfence The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfo~m, vendre des copies de cette thése sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des exfraite substantiels may be printed or otheMTise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. 1am pleased to have this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Wael B. Hailaq, my thesis advisor, for his continuous advice and guidance not ody in matters directly pertaining to this thesis but also in training me in the field of Islarnic legal studies. My gratitude also goes to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for enabling me to complete my course of study at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, through generous fûnding. The staff of Indonesia-Canada Higher Islarnic Education Project, and the staff of the Islamic Studies Library, particularly Salwa Ferahian and Wayne St. Thomas, are also thanked for their patience and the assistance they rendered to me during my stay at McGill University. My thanks are also due to Dr. A. Üner Turgay (Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies), Dr. Sajida S. Alvi, Dr. Donald P. Little, and Dr. Howard Federspiel, without whose instruction and assistance 1 would not have been able to fürther my knowledge of Islam. 1 am deeply grateful to Steven Millier and Reem Meshal for their enormous assistance in editing this thesis. My thanks are also due to the Minister of Religious Maùs of Indonesia and the authority of the Institute of Islarnic Studies Sunan KaJijaga., Yogyakarta, for granting me study leave in Canada for the completion of this work. Finally, this thesis would not have been completed without the constant moral support of my wife, Noviria Wiwik Sumintari, my daughter, Ratna Disca Sari, and my parents. Their patience and praying made my dreams come true. ABSTRACT AUTHOR :Ratno Lukito TITLE : Islamic Law and Adut Encounter: The Expenence of Indonesia DEPARTMENT : Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University DEGWE : M. A. While much has been written on the relationship between Islamic Iaw and customary law in Muslim countrks, for the most part, the literature reflects the conflict approach. To date, this rnethodological eamework persists as most Western Islamicists continue to vîew the encounter between the two legal systems as codict ridden. This thesis is an attempt to re-evaluate this entrenched paradigm. By utiiising the principles of IsIamic legal methodology (usa al-fi@) in conjunction with legal and socio-political approaches, this study seeks to shed new anaiytical light on the encounter of Islamic law with adat law (customary law) in Indonesia. The two legal systems, it is argued, have a shared existence long pre-dating the intervention of the colonial powers in Indonesian legal affairs, which speaks of accommodation and coexistence. In what is both a syncretic and a purist society, Indonesians have successfully harmonized the two legal traditions such that compromise and derivative soiutions, based upon elements from both legal systems, have often been attained. Io post-colonial Indonesia, the dialogue between the two sets of laws peeists today as the tradition of avoiding conflict in legal resolution continues unintermpted by the flux in legal policy fiom colonial to national nile. Family law in particular illustrates the endurance of such a phenomenon in the current period. Three cases --conditional repudiation, comrnon propew in marriage and obligatory bequest-- are discussed as models of the two substantive legal systems working jointly to construct a new legal entity. The conciliatory exchange between Islamic and customary law in hdonesia refùtes therefore the paradigrn by which the two legal systems are posited as irreconcilable. AUTEUR : Ratno Lukito TITRE : La rencontre de la loi islamique et I'Adut: L'expérience de l'Indonésie DÉPARTEMENT : Institut des Études Islamiques, Université McGilI DIPLQME : M.A. Mors que beaucoup d'ouvrages ont été écrit sur la relation existant entre la loi islamique et le droit coutumier dans les pays musulmans, la plupart de la littérature reflète une approche conflictuelle. Jusqu'à présent, cette grille méthodologique persiste toujours alors que les islamologues occidentaux continuent de percevoir la rencontre entre les deux systèmes légaux comme étant minée par des conflits. Ce mémoire tentera de réévaluer ce paradigme bien encré. En utilisant les principes de la méthodologie légale islamique (-2al-@)? en conjonction avec les approches légales et socio-politiques, cette étude tentera de donner un nouvel éclairage sur la rencontre de la loi islamique et 1'Adat (droit coutumier) en Indonésie. Il y est soutenu que les deux systèmes légaux ont partagé une existence commune bien avant I'intervention des puissances coloniales dans les affaires légales indonésiennes qui incluent les concepts d'accomodation et de coexistance. Dans ce que qui est à la fois une société syncrétiste et puriste, Les Indonésiens ont harmonisé avec succès les deux traditions légales de façon à ce que les solutions de compromis el de déduction, fondés sur des éléments issus des deux systèmes légaux, ont pu être atteints. Au sein de l'Indonésie post-coloniale, le dialogue entre les deux ensembles légaux persiste encore aujourd'hui alors que la tradition d'éviter les conflits dans la résolution légale se poursuit de façon ininterrompue par le flux des politiques du droit et ce, depuis la période coloniale jusqu'au gouvernement national. La loi de la famille illustre tout particulièrement l'endurance d'un tel phénomène dans la période actuelle. Trois cas, c'est-à-dire la répudiation conditioneIle. la communauté des biens dans le mariage et le leg obligatoire, sont abordés comme étant des modèles utilisés par les deux systèmes légaux substansifs qui contribuent conjointement à construire une nouvelle entité légale. L'échange concillié entre la loi islamique et le droit coutumier an Indonésie réfute donc le paradigme selon lequel les deux systèmes légaux sont perçus comme étant irréconcilliables. TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .. .i ABSTRACT .. ii IRÉsUMÉ... iii TABLE OF CONTENT .. .v TRANSLITERATIBN-. .vi INTRODUCTION ... 1 CHAPTER ONE: '&AH FROM THE STANDPOINT OF -(IL ALFWH... 6 1. Customary Law in the Time of the Prophet and His Cornpanions ... 8 2. Tduh in the View of Musiim Junsts.. .2 1 CHAPTER TWO: LSLAMIC LAW, ADA'X' AND THE COLONIAL POWER XN INDONESLA ... 38 1. The Dutch Era ... 39 A. The Dutch Policy on Islamic Law ...40 B. The Dutch Policy on Adat .. 54 C. Interrelation of Adat and Islamic Law .., 60 2. The Japanese Occupation .. -7 1 CHAPTER THREE: ISLAMIC LAW AND ADAT IN POST INDEPENDENCE INDONESU ... 81 1. Legal Issues in Independent Indonesia ... 82 A. Pluralism vs. Uniformism .. 84 B. Secular Nationalist vs. Muslim .. 98 2. Current Encounter of Islamic and Adat Law .. -106 A. Conditionai Repudiation ( Ta %q wiq).. 109 B. Common Property in Marriage .. ,115 C. Obligatory Bequests (wg7ya.h wGibab) . .-120 CONCLUSION ... 130 BIBLIOGRAPEXY .. .133 TRANSLITERATION Conceming the system of transliteration of Arabic words and narnes applied in this thesis, 1follow the system used by the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University. However, the Indonesian narnes derived fiom the Arabic are written in the form cited in the sources, such as Hasbi Ash Shiddieqy instead of Hasbi al-Sidaiq', or Muhammad instead of Mu&mmad. The Arabic transliterations are as follows: Diphthongs: 6 = ay; 3 1 = aw. .L Y= Long with tasbdioF & I and 3 1 ,instead of iyya and uwwa, we employiya and e' e' Üwa respectively. In the case of tZ2marbÜtab( a ) 6 is not omitted, but when it occurs within an [d'a6 it is written at. The hamzah ( 9 ) occurring in the initial position is omitted. INTRODUCTION In a 1956 address entitled "Reflection on Law - Natural, Divine and Positive," JN-D. Anderson draws attention to the confrontation between customary law and Islamic law as it is found in some Muslim countries: " .... nor is the field of possible conflict limited to that between the new outlook which now prevails in the orient - whether regarded as 'Western3 or as founded on natural law and the fundamental rights of man - and the retigious or divine law. Another fertile source of conflict is between customary law and divine law, as exemplified, for instance, in those Muslim communities - whether in Afiica, Malaya (Malaysia) or Indonesia."' This perception of the issue is quite understandable, since many Western scholars continue to view Islamic law and customary law as separate systems which cannot be reconciled. As a consequence, they tend to adopt contlicting approaches to the subject. Indonesia has dso expenenced this problem in the administration of ada? and Islamic law. Much of the discussion concemuig the encounter between the two systems of law in Indonesia has been infiuenced by the conflicting approaches.