While polygamous marriages in Southeast Asia have been studied through various lenses, significant research gaps persist in understanding these practices within the Malaysian and Indonesian contexts. This study comparatively investigates the interpretation of ‘ḍarar shar’ī’, a requirement to contract a polygamous marriage in Malaysia and Indonesia. The study utilized doctrinal study on relevant legislation and case law accompanied by semi-structured interviews. The findings from the doctrinal study are supported by information acquired through semi-structured interviews with Sharia court judges in Malaysia that were selected using a purposive approach. The secondary data were assembled using the library research approach and later analyzed using the thematic and content analysis approach. This study discovers that Malaysia and Indonesia have minor differences in deliberating the concept of harm attached to polygamy application. This is attributed to the different conditions for allowing polygamy in both jurisdictions. The study also discovers that, unlike the other conditions of polygamy, the Syariah court has no specific guidelines in deliberating on the possibility of ḍarar shar’ī before it can grant permission to allow for polygamous marriage.

Abstrak:

Meskipun perkawinan poligami di Asia Tenggara telah dikaji melalui berbagai sudut pandang, masih terdapat kesenjangan penelitian yang signifikan dalam memahami praktik-praktik ini dalam konteks Malaysia dan Indonesia. Artikel ini mengkaji secara komparatif tentang penafsiran ‘ḍarar shar’ī’ sebagai salah satu syarat untuk memasuki pernikahan poligami di Malaysia dan Indonesia dengan tujuan untuk membuat pedoman tentang penafsiran hukum atas konsep ‘ḍarar shar’ī’. Penelitian ini mengadopsi metode kualitatif yang memanfaatkan studi doktrinal dan wawancara semi terstruktur. Temuan dari studi doktrinal didukung oleh informasi yang diperoleh melalui wawancara semi-terstruktur dengan hakim pengadilan Syariah di Malaysia yang dipilih dengan menggunakan pendekatan purposif. Data sekunder dikumpulkan dengan menggunakan pendekatan penelitian kepustakaan dan kemudian dianalisis dengan menggunakan pendekatan analisis tematik dan isi. Studi ini menemukan bahwa Malaysia dan Indonesia memiliki sedikit perbedaan dalam mempertimbangkan konsep kerugian yang melekat pada penerapan poligami. Hal ini disebabkan oleh kondisi yang berbeda untuk membolehkan poligami di kedua yurisdiksi. Studi ini juga menemukan bahwa tidak seperti kondisi poligami lainnya, pengadilan syariah gagal dalam mempertimbangkan kemungkinan ‘ḍarar shar’ī’ sebelum dapat memberikan izin untuk mengizinkan pernikahan poligami.

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