ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the context of Islamic legal authority by studying the history of the evolution of Islamic legal authority in Indonesia. It explains how Islamic legal authority has been contested and negotiated in contemporary Indonesia, using the history of family law reform – the only aspect of the Islamic law that the state has regulated since Indonesia's independence – as an illustrative example. This chapter finds that judicial and legislative drafting debates concerning family law in Indonesia do not reveal any single Islamic actor as having an authoritative voice or veto power that shapes the interpretation or creation of Islamic law norms in Indonesia. However, recent developments in Islamic legislation and codification in Islamic transaction laws (muʿāmalāt), ḥalāl certification, and public health matters suggest a different pattern of institutionalizing authority over Islamic law interpretation. The state has vested the Council of Indonesian Ulama authority to develop Islamic legal principles through fatāwā to be used by the state in promulgating sharīʻa compliant laws and regulations and by Islamic financial or social institutions to run business that comply with sharīʻa.
