“Valid but Forbidden”: A Legal Interpretive Analysis of KH. Cholil Nafis’s Paradoxical Statement on Unregistered Marriage
Abstract
This article analyzes KH. Cholil Nafis's paradoxical statement that unregistered marriage (nikah siri) is “valid but forbidden” within contemporary Indonesian Islamic family law. The study addresses the tension between classical fiqh, which recognizes a marriage contract that fulfills its pillars and conditions, and state law, which requires registration to secure legal certainty and family protection. Using normative legal research and a qualitative-interpretive approach, the article applies Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutic stages of distanciation, explanation, and appropriation to read the statement as a legal text. The analysis shows that the phrase “valid but forbidden” is not a normative contradiction. “Valid” refers to the religious validity of the marriage contract, whereas “forbidden” refers to the harmful legal, administrative, and social consequences of bypassing state registration, especially for women and children. The article argues that the statement reflects a shift in Islamic legal reasoning from a purely legal-formal orientation toward a maqāṣid-based paradigm of social protection. Its contribution lies in demonstrating how paradoxical legal discourse can mediate between classical Islamic norms and the modern state legal system.
[Artikel ini menganalisis pernyataan paradoksal KH. Cholil Nafis bahwa nikah siri “sah tetapi haram” dalam konteks hukum keluarga Islam kontemporer di Indonesia. Kajian ini berangkat dari ketegangan antara fikih klasik, yang mengakui akad nikah apabila rukun dan syaratnya terpenuhi, dan hukum negara, yang mewajibkan pencatatan perkawinan untuk menjamin kepastian hukum dan perlindungan keluarga. Dengan menggunakan penelitian hukum normatif dan pendekatan kualitatif-interpretatif, artikel ini menerapkan tahapan hermeneutika Paul Ricoeur, yaitu distansiasi, eksplanasi, dan apropriasi, untuk membaca pernyataan tersebut sebagai teks hukum. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa frasa “sah tetapi haram” bukan kontradiksi normatif. “Sah” merujuk pada keabsahan agama atas akad nikah, sedangkan “haram” menunjuk pada dampak hukum, administratif, dan sosial yang merugikan akibat perkawinan tanpa pencatatan negara, terutama bagi perempuan dan anak. Artikel ini berargumen bahwa pernyataan tersebut mencerminkan pergeseran nalar hukum Islam dari orientasi legal-formal menuju paradigma perlindungan sosial berbasis maqāṣid al-syarī‘ah. Kontribusinya terletak pada penjelasan bahwa wacana hukum yang tampak paradoksal dapat menjadi mekanisme mediasi antara norma fikih klasik dan sistem hukum negara modern.]
Keywords
Copyright
Copyright Holder: Adinda Putri Kartika, Souad Ezzeroual
Copyright Year: 2026
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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