Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams (left) alongside former chief constitutional justice Jimmly Asshiddiqie, and Moch. Nur Ichwan speaking at the Annual Conference on Fatwa Studies for the anniversary of MUI, Wednesday (7/27/2022) at the Sultan Hotel, Jakarta. Photo by Humas MK/Hendy.

---

Wednesday, July 27, 2022 | 16:18 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—Quite a lot of fatwas by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) are in legislation, but the nature of those fatwas is not quite as emphasized by Law No. 13 of 2022 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 12 of 2011 on Lawmaking (P3 Law), which defines legislation or taqnin as written rules that contain generally-binding legal norms that are enacted or stipulated by state institutions or authorized officials through a procedure as stipulated in statutory law. Meanwhile, until today, the many MUI fatwas are merely guidelines that legislators can put into laws. In Indonesian legal system, those fatwas need to be made into legally binding norms such as laws.

This statement was made by Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams at the 6th Annual Conference on Fatwa Studies (ACFS) on “The Role of MUI Fatwas in Social Change” in celebration of MUI’s 47th anniversary that the council’s Fatwa Commission organized on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at the Sultan Hotel, Jakarta. The conference was a forum for Islamic scholars, scholars, academics, and researchers to discuss and share their views on various matters related to the role of MUI fatwas in social change in society. Former chief constitutional justice Jimmly Asshiddiqie and Moch. Nur Ichwan, a lecturer at the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University (UIN) of Yogyakarta, were in attendance.

Justice Wahiduddin said one could not talk about MUI fatwas without talking about the position of Islamic law in the lawmaking in Indonesia. He acknowledged that those fatwas are often cited in legislation. So far, MUI’s hand in lawmaking is only limited to public participation, as mentioned in Article 96 paragraph (3) of Law No. 13 of 2022, which stipulates, “… shall be an individual or group that is directly affected by and/or has an interest in the material of a Bill of Law.” MUI, he argued, has been a group of citizens since its formation in 1975.

In practice, in a law related to Islamic law, the legal basis for “considering” in a statutory law includes Article 29 of the 1945 Constitution as a constitutional basis, such as Law No. 1 of 1974 on Marriage, Law No. 23 of 2011 on Zakat Management, Law No. 41 of 2004 on Waqf, Law No. 33 of 2014 on Guarantee of Halal Products, Law No. 34 of 2014 on Hajj Financial Management, and Law No. 8 of 2019 on the Implementation of Hajj and Umrah. However, MUI fatwas are not made into legal norms yet because based on the legal hierarchy, they do not have binding force or apply in general, complete with fines and even criminal penalties. The legal hierarchy in Indonesia comprises the 1945 Constitution, Tap MPR (decrees of the People’s Consultative Assembly), laws and government regulations in lieu of laws (perppu), government regulations, presidential decrees, provincial regulations, and regency/city regional regulations.

“It is not easy to include MUI fatwas in legislation that has penalties, such as laws, regional regulations, and village regulations. With so many fatwas, whether requested for development and others, it is better for MUI to observe the planning to the evaluation of [legal] norms so that the existing MUI fatwas can be put into bills of laws and regulations optimally. So, the language used in legislation will no longer be the language of fiqh, but rather one that relates to state law and is aligned with the essence or meaning of the MUI fatwas,” Justice Wahiduddin said.

The conference took place on Tuesday to Thursday, July 26–28, 2022. The opening of the conference was followed by discussions in an introductory session, where speakers such as Abdurrahman Dahlan, Miftahul Huda, Jaih Mubarok, and Maulana Hasanuddin talked about aqidah (faith), worship, institutional and methodology of fatwa, society and halal products, and sharia economy. Presentations of papers and discussions were also held as part of the conference.

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 7/30/2022 10:24 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

---