Nikah Sirri Dalam Perspektif Epistemologi Hukum Islam: Dialektika Antara Keabsahan Fikih, Pencatatan Perkawinan, Dan Maqasid Al-Syari’ah

Abstract

Nikah sirri constitutes one of the issues in Islamic family law whose meaning has continued to develop in response to changes in social conditions, state institutions, and marriage administration systems. In classical Islamic jurisprudence, the term nikāḥ al-sirr basically refers to a marriage that is kept secret and not publicly announced, whereas in the Indonesian context, the term nikah sirri is more commonly used to refer to a marriage conducted in accordance with Islamic religious requirements but not officially registered by the authorized marriage registrar. This terminological distinction indicates that the issue of nikah sirri cannot be adequately examined merely by asking whether the pillars and conditions of marriage have been fulfilled; rather, it also needs to be analyzed through the epistemology of Islamic law, namely, how legal rulings are derived, understood, constructed, and applied in response to changing social realities. This article aims to analyze nikah sirri through an epistemological approach by integrating Islamic normative sources, the construction of classical Islamic jurisprudence, contemporary Islamic legal thought, legal maxims, maqāṣid al-syarī‘ah, and Indonesian positive law. This study employs normative legal research using conceptual, statutory, Islamic jurisprudential, and maqāṣid al-syarī‘ah approaches. The primary sources consist of the Qur’an, Hadith, classical Islamic jurisprudential texts, the Compilation of Islamic Law, the Marriage Law, and regulations concerning marriage registration. Secondary sources include books on contemporary Islamic law and scholarly journal articles. The findings demonstrate that nikah sirri should be examined by distinguishing between the issue of ṣiḥḥat al-‘aqd, or the validity of the marriage contract under Islamic jurisprudence, and the issues of legal recognition, documentation, and legal protection. From the perspective of the epistemology of Islamic law, marriage registration should not be understood merely as an administrative requirement, but also as an instrument for realizing public benefit (taḥqīq al-maṣlaḥah), protecting lineage, safeguarding family rights, and preventing harm. Therefore, the legal construction of nikah sirri should be situated within a balanced relationship among textual sources, Islamic jurisprudence, social realities, maqāṣid al-syarī‘ah, and state regulation.