Marriage Registration and Judicial Legal Protection in Indonesia: Navigating Normative Tensions in Isbat Nikah

Vito Dasrianto (STAIN Mandailing Natal)
Elva Mahmudi (STAIN Mandailing Natal)

Al-Qadha: Jurnal Hukum Islam dan Perundang-Undangan
Vol. 12 No. 2 (2025): Al-Qadha: Jurnal Hukum Islam dan Perundang-Undangan

This article examines the juridical discourse on isbat nikah (marriage validation) after the enactment of Law Number 1 of 1974 concerning Marriage, particularly the tension between the registration imperative in Article 2 paragraph (2) and the validation avenue opened by Article 7 paragraph (3) of the Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI). Using a normative juridical approach combined with a qualitative case-study analysis of religious court determinations covering both granted and rejected isbat nikah petitions from several religious courts, this study finds that the normative tension between the formal legalism of the state and the social responsiveness of Islamic law produces an ambivalent judicial pattern: religious courts extend an accommodative interpretation of isbat nikah to protect the civil rights of wives and children born of unregistered marriages, while at the same time enforcing firm juridical limits against its use as a shortcut for legalizing unregistered polygamy and underage marriage. The deepened analysis covers the position of the KHI in the hierarchy of norms, the implications of Constitutional Court Decision Number 46/PUU-VIII/2010, the restrictions imposed by Supreme Court Circular (SEMA) Number 3 of 2018, the integration of isbat nikah services, and a comparative reflection on Muslim communities under non-Islamic legal systems. Building on these findings, the study recommends harmonization on three concrete layers: a legislative layer that reaffirms marriage registration as an administrative obligation supported by incentives and simplified access rather than the threat of invalidity alone; a judicial layer that consolidates isbat nikah jurisprudence into predictable parameters of granting and rejection, including firm limits against the isbat of unregistered polygamy and underage marriage; and an administrative layer that expands integrated registration and circuit isbat services, so that legal dualism between national law and Islamic law no longer harms justice seekers.