Muslim-Non-Muslim Marriage: Political and Cultural Contestations in Southeast Asia

5. The Politico-Religious Contestation: Hardening of the Islamic Law on Muslim-non-Muslim Marriage in Indonesia

Hardening of the Islamic Law on Interfaith Marriages in Indonesia 139 139 Chapter 5 THE POLITICO-RELIGIOUS CONTESTATION Hardening of the Islamic Law on Muslim-non-Muslim Marriage in Indonesia Suhadi Cholil The study of Muslim-non-Muslim marriage in Indonesian Islamic law is intriguing because it will not only show how Islamic law has been practised in the largest Muslim country in the world, but also how Indonesian Muslims interpret their religion for the sake of communal need. In this chapter, I will investigate some pertinent issues on Muslim-non-Muslim marriage in Indonesia from two angles: the discourse on interreligious marriage in the Islamic tradition, and the current discourse on Muslim-nonMuslim marriage, as well as analyse legal changes that have taken place in recent times and the political motives behind them. Religio-political contestation lay behind the Islamic law prohibiting Muslim-non-Muslim mixed marriage in Indonesia. As a result of the contestation, interreligious marriage became impossible for Muslims, both men and women. The political 05 Muslim_NonMuslim Ch 5 5/4/09, 3:54 PM 139 140 Suhadi Cholil contestation involves a number of Muslim organizations. Fatwa or religious decrees prohibiting interreligious marriage were successively issued by the Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) (literally Ulama Awakening), in 1960, the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) or Indonesian Ulama Council in 1980, and Muhammadiyah (the Indonesian reformist Muslim organization), which is the second largest Indonesian Islamic organization, in 1989. While the socio-political reason behind the NU religious decree was fuzzy, both the MUI and the Muhammadiyah decrees on Muslim-non-Muslim marriage take very clear positions. According to them, interreligious marriage will lead Muslims astray to convert to other religions. To a large extent, the religious political contestation in Indonesia is manifested in the two largest religious communities, the Muslims and the Christians. DISCOURSE OF THE ISLAMIC TRADITION There are three Qur’anic verses dealing with Muslims marrying non-Muslims, namely, idolaters (musyrik), unbelievers (kuffâr), and people of the Book (ahl al-kitâb). And do not marry idolatresses (al-musyrikât) till they believe. And indeed a slave woman (amah) who believes is better than an idolatress (musyrikât), even though she pleases you… (Al-Qur’an 2:221). O you who believe, when believing women (abandon the enemy and) ask for asylum with you, you shall test them. Allah is fully aware of their belief. Once you establish that they are believers, you shall not return them to the disbelievers. They are not lawful to remain married to them, nor shall the disbelievers be allowed to marry them. Give back the dowries that the disbelievers have paid. You commit no error by marrying them, so long as you pay them their due dowries. Do not keep 05 Muslim_NonMuslim Ch 5 5/4/09, 3:54 PM 140 Hardening of the Islamic Law on Interfaith Marriages in Indonesia 141 disbelieving wives. You may ask them for the dowry you had paid, and they may ask for what they paid… (Al-Qur’an 60:10). This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them. (Lawful unto you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are Believers, but chaste women among the People of the Book, revealed before your time, when ye give them their due dowers (mahr), and desire chastity, not lewdness, nor secret intrigues (Al-Qur’an 5:5). Muslim scholars have generally understood the first two verses as prohibition of Muslim-non-Muslim marriage. Sura 2, verse 221, prohibits Muslim marriage to those who believe in gods other than Allah (musyrikun/musyrikat). Moreover Sura 60, verse 10, prohibits Muslims from sending female converts, who have come to them, back to their unbelieving husbands. Sura 5:5 is the primary source that has given rise to polemics in the history of Islamic law, due to its exceptional viewpoint which allows Muslims to marry “virtuous” or free (muhsanât) women of the People of the Book, commonly understood as Christians and Jews. As mentioned by Kecia Ali, these basic tenets of Islamic law presuppose two kinds of hierarchies: that Muslims take precedence over non-Muslims, and husbands over wives (Ali 2006, p. 14). But in Indonesia, the exception allowed by the surah 5:5 has been denied. We need to understand the religiopolitical motives...