Islamic Ideals
Eco-justice in Islamic Law
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nawal Ammar
Despite the diversity among Muslims and Islamic perspectives, it is possible to speak about an Islamic perspective on eco-feminism. This perspective is not advancing new interpretations on Islam and environment, but rather a retrieval of existing theological elements of Islam. This is a progressive approach that is based on the concept of "aql" (knowledge transmitted from independent reason) versus "naql" (knowledge derived only from revelation and tradition). This paper asks the question of whether Islamic thought and ecofeminism have any commonalities. And if they do, then what are these commonalities? The methodology I use in the paper utilizes theoretical, historical, and narrative analysis of the texts. The balance of this paper is divided into four sections. The first section describes the main ideas of the eco-feminist perspective. The second section provides a brief description of the Islamic view of the environment, justice, and women. The third section discusses the moral dilemma emanating from this view of the environment for Muslims. The fourth and final section explores the relationship between the ideas of eco-feminism and Islamic views of the environment with suggestions for further research.
Urgency in Regulating Marriage Registration from the Perspective of Islamic Law and Indonesian Positive Law
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Muchammad Ichsan
This study reviews the existence and sufficiency of regulations on marriage registration based on Islamic law and Indonesian legislative regulations. It seeks to identify the reasons why some people choose not to register their marriage at the authorized state institution as well as the harms that come with such decision. In addition, the necessary efforts to discourage sirri marriage (religiously valid yet unregistered marriage) and to prompt people to register their union are also laid out. To achieve these purposes, this study employs the juridical-normative method with a sociological approach in the writing. The findings are as follows: (1) registration is important and necessary to regulate marriages in Indonesia; (2) registration does not determine the validity of a marriage because it is not a basic principle or requirement of matrimony; (3) Islam allows a government to require marriage registration if it is beneficial or good for the community, and if it can help them avoid any form of oppression, damage, and risk; (4) Indonesia already has a sufficient set of legislative regulations on marriage registration, although some of them need to be clarified further; (5) different reasons for not registering a marriage at the authorized institution include: religious validity is considered adequate, the official registration process is deemed impractical, pre-marital pregnancy, the marriage is part of polygamy, the marriage is interreligious, the marriage involves underage individual(s), and the punishment is simply not serious enough; (6) unregistered marriage is prone to many risks.
Family, Identity, and Power: How Family Shapes Masculinities among Muslims in Java
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Rachmad Hidayat
Family fundamentally is a gendered institution that conserves and embodies gendered norms and structures. This paper discusses how family shapes masculinities among Muslims men in rural Java. It is based on a qualitative study involving sixteen Muslim men living in a rural area in the Southern part of Central Java. The study employed group discussions followed by in-depth interviews with the men participants. The study reveals that marriage and family substantially shape masculinities in two ways. First, family provides a man with institutionalised gendered power that requires a man to play dominant roles in the family, particularly over women. A man’s ability to exercise this power, to observe, evaluate, judge, and control undesirable situations within the relationship constitutes the ideals of manhood. Second, family elevates a man with the status of being the real man which allows him to link himself to other married men outside the family and to participate in the social realm which constitutes as a homosocial practice. This study indicates that religious doctrine combined with Javanese norms of manhood contribute to the conservation of masculinity in the family.
