Al-Ulum
Vol. 26 No. 1 (2026): Al-Ulum

The Fragility of Coerced Faith: Deconstructing the Constitutional Court’s Ratio Decidendi via the Aḥmadiyyah Exegesis of Qurʾān 2:256

Masgun Arifin (UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya)
Ahmad Nabilul Maram (UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya)



Article Info

Publish Date
10 Aug 2026

Abstract

This article challenges the legal-theological logic underpinning the Indonesian Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi or MK) Decision No. 140/PUU-VII/2009, which upheld the Blasphemy Law on the grounds of maintaining "public order" and "religious purity" (ḥifẓ al-dīn). While existing scholarship predominantly critiques this decision through secular human rights frameworks, this study employs a hermeneutic dialectic method to confront the Court’s reasoning with an internal Islamic counter-narrative: the Aḥmadiyyah exegesis (tafsīr) of Qurʾān 2:256. The analysis reveals a fundamental epistemological divergence. The MK operates on a paradigm of "doctrinal fragility," assuming that religious truth requires coercive state protection to survive deviations. Conversely, the minority exegesis posits that because Truth (al-rushd) is ontologically distinct from Error (al-ghayy), coercion is logically redundant and theologically invalid. Empirical evidence from the Cikeusik and Sintang incidents further demonstrates that the state’s restrictive approach to ḥifẓ al-dīn creates a "feedback loop" of structural violence, where the legal designation of deviance legitimizes vigilante aggression, thereby violating ḥifẓ al-nafs (protection of life). By deconstructing the classical doctrine of abrogation (naskh) and redefining fitnah (disorder) as persecution rather than difference, this article argues for a systemic reconstruction of Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah. It concludes that genuine public order in a pluralist state cannot be achieved through the policing of orthodoxy, but only through the recognition of conscience (ḥurriyyat al-iʿtiqād) as a prerequisite for social peace.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

au

Publisher

Subject

Religion Economics, Econometrics & Finance

Description

Al-Ulum adalah jurnal yang terbit berkala pada bulan Juni dan Desember, ditelaah dan direview oleh para ahli dalam bidangnya, diterbitkan oleh lembaga Penelitian dan Pengabdian pada Masyarakat Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Sultan Amai Gorontalo, Indonesia ISSN 1412-0534 E-ISSN 2442-8213 Al-Ulum ...