Reconstructing Marriageable Age in Tafsīr al-Aḥkām
A Comparative Uṣūliyyah Analysis of Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī and Classical Madhhab Perspectives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24252/mazahibuna.vi.66663Keywords:
Al-Subki, Maqasid al-Shari‘ah, Marriageability, Tafsir Ahkam, Classical MadhhabAbstract
The establishment of a minimum marriage age in Indonesia through Law No. 16 of 2019, which sets the minimum age at 19 years for both men and women, remains a subject of debate within Islamic normative discourse due to the absence of an explicit numerical age requirement in the Qur’an. Previous studies have tended to approach the issue of marriage age either as a socio-legal problem or through maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah-based justifications, yet they have not provided a systematic reconstruction of uṣūl al-fiqh that integrates textual analysis with cross-madhhab legal theory. As a result, the relationship between contemporary legislation and classical Islamic legal reasoning remains fragmented. This article addresses this gap by examining QS. al-Nisāʾ [4]: 6 through the framework of tafsīr al-aḥkām and the uṣūliyyah methodology of Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī within the broader context of classical Islamic legal discourse. Employing a library-based qualitative approach, the article analyzes key uṣūlī principles to reconstruct legal reasoning concerning marital capacity in Islamic law. The findings demonstrate that the Qur’anic emphasis on rushd alongside bulūgh indicates that marital capacity cannot be reduced solely to biological maturity. The absence of a numerical age threshold reflects a form of normative openness that allows for juridical specification according to social context. Accordingly, the legal age of 19 may be understood as a legitimate form of takhṣīṣ or taqyīd grounded in maṣlaḥah mursalah and aligned with the objectives of Islamic law. This article offers a methodological reconstruction showing that age-based legislation is not an external normative imposition upon Islamic tradition, but rather a continuation of classical uṣūliyyah reasoning. By bridging al-Subkī’s methodological framework with inter-madhhab discourse, it proposes a coherent model for harmonizing the principles of Islamic law with modern socio-legal realities.
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