INTERFAITH MARRIAGE IN THE PERSPECTIVES OF FOUR SUNNI MADHHABS AND FAMILY LAW: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INDONESIA AND JORDAN

Abstract

Interfaith marriage remains a highly debated issue in Islamic law and contemporary family law. This study aims to analyze the perspectives of the four Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence on interfaith marriage, compare the legal regulations governing interfaith marriage in Indonesia and Jordan, and examine the relationship between classical Islamic legal doctrines and the positive laws implemented in both countries. This research employs a normative legal method using a comparative approach and library research. The data were collected from classical fiqh literature of the four sunni schools, statutory regulations, and relevant scholarly works. The findings reveal that all sunni schools of jurisprudence unanimously prohibit marriages between muslim women and non-muslim men. However, they differ regarding the extent to which muslim men may marry women from the ahl al-kitab (People of the Book). In terms of positive law, both Indonesia and Jordan regard religion as a fundamental basis for the legal validity of marriage, yet they adopt different regulatory models. Indonesia applies a pluralistic legal system in which marriage regulations result from the interaction between state law, religious law, and population administration policies. In contrast, Jordan directly incorporates Islamic family law through
the Jordanian Personal Status Law, which is strongly influenced by the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. This study finds that the relationship between fiqh and positive law in Jordan is direct and integrative, whereas in Indonesia it is characterized by a compromise-oriented and accommodative approach through negotiations among fiqh norms, national legal pluralism, and state administrative policies.

Keywords: interfaith marriage; four Sunni madhhabs; family law; Inonesia; Jordan.