Counter Legal Draft-KHI (CLD-KHI) and The Reform of Islamic Family Law In Indonesia: Between A Humanistic-Prophetic Paradigm And Its Political-Legal Limits

Abstract

The Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI), issued through Presidential Instruction No. 1 of 1991, remains the main substantive source for Indonesian Religious Courts, yet several of its provisions conflict with contemporary standards of gender equality and human rights. The Counter Legal Draft (CLD-KHI) offered an alternative in 2004 but was never enacted. This article asks which contested KHI provisions can be reformed on Islamic grounds and why the CLD-KHI failed to become law. Using qualitative library research, it classifies provisions in eight domains of family law with Abdullah Saeed's hierarchy of values and tests how far they may be revised through Muhammad Shahrūr's ḥudūd theory. The contested rules in seven domains are implementational rather than obligatory and open to revision within God's boundaries, whereas the 2:1 inheritance ratio is the most contestable reform because its numerical share is stated in the text. The draft's failure reflects elite advocacy, weak institutional legitimacy, and the symbolic authority of classical fiqh, not conservative resistance alone. The article offers a text-sensitive framework for evaluating Islamic family law reform in Indonesia.