Negotiating Text and Reality: An Epistemological Analysis of Persis Hisbah Council Fatwas on Contemporary Issues

Daniel Barkah (Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta)

EDUKASI
Vol. 24 No. 2 (2026): EDUKASI: Jurnal Penelitian Pendidikan Agama dan Keagamaan

This study analyzes the epistemology of the fatwa of the PERSIS Hisbah Council in responding to contemporary issues in the period 1996–2018, focusing on the relationship between textual authority and social reality. This research uses an interpretive qualitative approach through document analysis, institutional-historical contextualization, and epistemological analysis based on the framework of bayānī, burhānī, and ‘irfānī Muhammad Abid al-Jabiri. The main data were obtained from interviews with three institutional informants and an in-depth analysis of six fatwa cases selected purposively from the documentary corpus of the research period, with interview and observation data used as context clarification and verified through available documents and archives. The results of the study show that bayānī is the dominant reasoning pattern, characterized by the position of the Qur'an and Hadith as the main basis for the legitimacy of the law and the use of textual reasoning tools in establishing laws. At the same time, elements of burhānī are used instrumentally through empirical information, scientific studies, and expert opinion to understand and verify contemporary legal objects, but do not replace textual authority as a source of legitimacy. The element of ‘irfānī was not found as the basis for an explicit argument in the fatwa document analyzed. Based on these findings, this study formulated an adaptive epistemological model as an analytical formulation developed from the research data, which is characterized by a hierarchical integration between bayānī as a source of normative legitimacy and burhānī as an instrument of understanding reality. These findings show that the response of the PERSIS Hisbah Council to social change is more appropriately understood as an adaptation in the application of textual reasoning than an epistemological paradigm change. In the context of religious education, the pattern shows that fatwas not only convey legal provisions, but also transmit ways of connecting religious knowledge with real-life issues.