From Equal Shares to Proportional Justice

A Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ah Analysis of Marital Property Division in Mataram Religious Court Decisions

Abstract

Post-divorce marital property division in Indonesia’s Religious Courts is generally governed by Article 97 of the Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI), which establishes an equal one-half share for each spouse. While this formula provides normative certainty, its uniform application may not adequately accommodate cases involving substantial differences in economic and non-economic contributions. This study examines how judicial reasoning addresses the tension between formal equality and proportional justice in marital property division. Using statutory, case, and conceptual approaches, the study analyzes the ratio decidendi of three Mataram Religious Court decisions: Nos. 504/Pdt.G/2022/PA.Mtr, 240/Pdt.G/2021/PA.Mtr, and 546/Pdt.G/2022/PA.Mtr. Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ah, particularly al-‘adālah (justice) and ḥifẓ al-māl (protection of property), serves as the analytical framework for evaluating the judges’ reasoning. The findings reveal differentiated approaches to property allocation. Two decisions retain the equal one-half division despite variations in the parties’ contributions, whereas Decision No. 504 allocates two-thirds to the wife and one-third to the husband after establishing the wife’s dominant contribution. The analysis demonstrates that Article 97 KHI functions as a general normative benchmark while allowing contextual judicial reasoning where equal allocation does not correspond to the parties’ contributions. The study’s academic novelty lies in proposing a three-stage reconstruction of proportional judicial reasoning: identifying paid and unpaid contributions, determining legally relevant disparities, and justifying the resulting allocation through maqāṣid-based reasoning. This framework bridges normative certainty and substantive justice while providing a more transparent basis for judicial discretion in marital property disputes.