<![CDATA[The increase in Indonesia’s minimum marriage age through Law No. 16 of 2019 was intended to strengthen child protection by restricting child marriage through a judicial marriage dispensation mechanism. However, a legal paradox emerges when applications for itsbat nikah are submitted after underage marriages have been conducted religiously without prior judicial authorization, including in cases where marriage dispensation has been rejected. This phenomenon raises a critical question: can itsbat nikah, originally designed to provide legal recognition for existing marriages, inadvertently create an alternative pathway that undermines the preventive objective of child marriage restrictions? This study examines the legal relationship between rejected marriage dispensations and subsequent itsbat nikah applications and explores how judicial discretion negotiates the competing imperatives of child protection, legal certainty, and family welfare. Using a qualitative socio-legal approach, the research draws on in-depth interviews with judges and court officials, observations, and documentary analysis of court decisions, legislation, and relevant legal materials at the Sungguminasa Religious Court. The findings reveal that the relationship between marriage dispensation and itsbat nikah reflects not merely a normative gap but a structural tension between preventive and curative mechanisms within Indonesia’s marriage law. Judges face a legal dilemma between refusing recognition to discourage child marriage and granting legal status to protect the rights of women and children within families already formed. This study argues that maqāṣid al-sharīʿah provides a normative framework for reconstructing child marriage protection by prioritizing the integrated protection of life, lineage, dignity, and welfare. The study contributes a framework for harmonizing preventive marriage regulation with curative judicial protection in Indonesian Islamic family law.]]>
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