Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures, Diagrams and Table
- Acknowledgements
- Map 1 Aceh, Indonesia
- Map 2 Research sites in Aceh
- Introduction
- PART ONE BETWEEN ORDERS AND JURISDICTIONS
- PART TWO BETWEEN JUSTICE AND RIGHTS
- 4 Unequal Legal Options
- 5 Contested Lawmaking
- 6 Disputed Land Ownership
- PART THREE BETWEEN VILLAGES AND COURTROOMS
- Conclusion
- Appendix I The Population of Aceh based on Religious Affiliation, 2010
- Appendix II The Result of Provincial Legislative Election in Aceh, 2014
- Appendix III Abbreviations and Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Unequal Legal Options
from PART TWO - BETWEEN JUSTICE AND RIGHTS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2016
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures, Diagrams and Table
- Acknowledgements
- Map 1 Aceh, Indonesia
- Map 2 Research sites in Aceh
- Introduction
- PART ONE BETWEEN ORDERS AND JURISDICTIONS
- PART TWO BETWEEN JUSTICE AND RIGHTS
- 4 Unequal Legal Options
- 5 Contested Lawmaking
- 6 Disputed Land Ownership
- PART THREE BETWEEN VILLAGES AND COURTROOMS
- Conclusion
- Appendix I The Population of Aceh based on Religious Affiliation, 2010
- Appendix II The Result of Provincial Legislative Election in Aceh, 2014
- Appendix III Abbreviations and Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
[Although] the defendant is Buddhist, he has declared that he would voluntarily subject himself to the Qanun of Aceh 12 of 2003 on liquor [prohibition]. The defendant also signed a statement that he would be ready to be prosecuted under the Qanun. [In fact,] in the first hearing, the defendant stated before the judges that he made an option for his offence to be adjudicated based on the Qanun.
Public prosecutor of Meulabouh, West AcehDifferences in juridical doctrine and practice among Muslims have existed since the early period of Islam. Historically, a unified form of legal structure for different communities was not a popular approach in an Islamic territory. Islamic legal singularity or the centralisation of Islamic law by Muslim dynasties was not common. In fact, most Muslim dynasties at various times and in various places recognised and accepted intra- and extra-legal pluralism among Muslims themselves and among other religious communities.
The millet system of the Ottoman Empire is perhaps a good example of how legal pluralism was present at some previous times in Islamic history. The millet system of the Ottoman Empire lasted for more than 400 years. It was founded during the reign of Sultan Mohammed II (1451–81 ce), but by the mid-nineteenth century it had gradually been abolished. The millet system was introduced to enable the Ottoman Empire to cope with socio-political problems resulting from diverse and complex ethnic and religious identities. Through the establishment of the millet system, the Ottoman government granted virtual sovereignty to each religious community, in perpetuity, without its being subject to renewal, abolition or limitation. Each of the religious communities (for example, Jewish and Christian) had the right to preserve its own courts, to appoint judges and to apply legal principles for the use of co-religionists (Shaw 1976: 151; Braude 1982: 69–81; Karpat 1982: 141–6).
As pointed out by Timur Kuran (2004: 476), Islam has a distinct version of legal pluralism. Islamic legal pluralism gave Muslims fewer options than it gave to Christians or Jews. Comparing Muslim majorities and non-Muslim minorities who were subjects of the Ottoman Empire during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Kuran (2004: 476–7) discovered that non-Muslims were free to choose and move between the different jurisdictions of the Islamic court system and their own autonomous denominational courts.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Contemporary Islamic Law in IndonesiaSharia and Legal Pluralism, pp. 73 - 90Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2015