<![CDATA[The Obligation of maintenance (nafkah) in Islamic family law is no longer viewed merely as a legal consequence of marriage but has evolved into a legal mechanism for safeguarding children’s rights following divorce. Although both Islamic law and Indonesian national law regulate this obligation, judicial practice continues to face challenges in integrating child maintenance with child custody (hadhanah). This sutdy aims to examine the normative construction of maintenance obligations under Islamic and national law and to analyze the judicial reasoning adopted in the Decision of the Yogyakarta High Religious Court Number 63/Pdt.G/2023/PTA.Yk as a reflection of the contemporary development of Islamic family law in Indonesia. This research employs normative legal research using statutory, conceptual, and case approaches. Legal materials are analyzed qualitatively through descriptive-analytical methods using the perspectives of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah, legal protection theory, and justice theory. The findings reveal a significant paradigm shift from a formalistic understanding of maintenance obligations toward a rights-based approach emphasizing the protection of children's interests. The court decision confirms that hadhanah and maintenance obligations constitute distinct yet complementary legal institutions designed to ensure the best interests of the child. The judges harmonized the principles of Islamic law, the Compilation of Islamic Law, the Marriage Law, and the Supreme Court's policy by considering the father's financial capacity alongside the child's actual needs. Nevertheless, the decision still demonstrates shortcomings, particularly the absence of objective economic indicators for determining maintenance amounts and the lack of effective mechanisms to enforce maintenance orders. This study proposes a conceptual reconstruction that positions maintenance obligations as an integrated child protection framework connected with custody arrangements, measurable economic assessment standards, and more effective enforcement mechanisms as part of the ongoing reform of Islamic family law in Indonesia.]]>
