SPs Theater Room UIN Jakarta, SPs NEWS: The Graduate School of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta held the 2763rd Master's Thesis Exam at the SPs Theater Room of UIN Jakarta, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025 with candidate Bayu Arif Mahendra.

Bayu Arif Mahendra is a student of the Master of Islamic Studies study program with a concentration in Sharia. Arif wrote a thesis entitled "The Construction of Islamic Family Law for Muslim Minorities: A Comparative Study of the Methodology of Fiqh al-Aqallīyāt Fatwa Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-'Uthaymīn and Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī"

Arif's research analyzes the construction of the thought and methodology of legal istinbāṭ (legal discovery) in the fatwa of fiqh al-aqalliyyāt (minority fiqh) related to Islamic family law. The main focus is on how fatwas from clerics with conservative and progressive mindsets can be implemented for Muslim minorities. To achieve his goal, Arif compares the approaches of two prominent scholars: Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ ibn al-'Uthaymīn who is known for his textualist style, and Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī who tends to be contextualistic.

Using qualitative research methods, this thesis seeks to find common ground and integration between the fiqh al-aqalliyyāt fatwa of the two different approaches. Arif points out that, instead of contradicting each other, conservative and progressive approaches actually have the potential to complement each other in providing relevant legal solutions for Muslim minorities.

This research firmly opposes the view of Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im who tends to reject the textual approach. An-Na'im argues that the textualist approach is incapable of meeting the demands of complex and pluralistic modern society because it rejects contextual reinterpretation, thus potentially creating stagnation in the law. However, Mahendra's thesis presents a different argument.

This thesis argues that the integration of Ibn al-'Uthaymīn's approach and al-Qaraḍāwī can produce a more adaptive and contextual fatwa without sacrificing sharia principles, especially in the issues of al-mutaghayyirāt (dynamic law). Mahendra found that both scholars emphasized the importance of the principle of maṣlaḥah (benefit) as the basis for granting fatwas to minority Muslims.

The findings of this study show that textual and contextual approaches are not always contradictory. On the contrary, the two can be integrated into each other within the framework of fiqh al-aqalliyyāt. Using discourse analysis or text analysis techniques, this study found that fiqh al-aqalliyyāt provides a flexible solution through the integration of consistency in the classical law of Ibn al-'Uthaymīn and the contextual application of al-Qaraḍāwī.

The harmonization of these two approaches results in adaptive fatwas without sacrificing sharia principles, especially in the matter of al-mutaghayyirāt. This challenges views such as Wael B. Hallaq who often see difficulty in bringing the two approaches together. The integration of textualist and contextualist approaches, as this thesis shows, results in a wider, more inclusive, and applicable fiqh coverage of al-aqalliyyāt for Muslim communities across geographical and social contexts, without losing the normative value of sharia as the main foothold.

Bayu Arif Mahendra successfully defended his thesis under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Asmawi, M.Ag, and was tested in front of a board of examiners consisting of Prof. Dr. Yusuf Rahman, MA, Prof. Dr. Asmawi, M.Ag, Prof. Dr. Kamarusdiana, MH and Dr. Rosdiana, MA.

After paying attention to the thesis writing, the comments of the examiner team and the candidate's answers, the examiner team determined that Bayu Arif Mahendra graduated with the predicate of Very Satisfactory. Bayu Arif Mahendra is the 2763rd master in the field of Islamic Studies, in the master's program of the Graduate School of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. (JA)