Six Facts about Religious Court
Jakarta | badilag.net
Prior to 130 years old, religious court has recorded a series of history. In the long span of time, there were many things about the religious court in the past that is rarely known. Among these are six important facts below:
Honorary Judges
In 1982, religious courts consisted of 258 first instance courts and 10 appeal courts with 1733 voluntarily judges and 581 permanent judges. Most of the honorary judges were comprised of priest obtaining the IDR. 1.000 every month in addition to the IDR. 250 for each case he or she handled. The number of cases handled by religious courts at that time no less than 260,000.
Female Judges
The appointment of women as judges of the Religious started in 1956 when K.H. Moehammad Djoenaidi served as Head of the Religious Court Bureau. The amount of women serving as judge was about 20. Most of them were former participants of the marriage counseling course conducted by Indonesian Women Congress (Kowani) under the Religious Affair Bureau.
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Daniel S. Lev mentioned, in 1964 the Directorate of Religious Court appointed a number of women as members of the religious courts. There were fifteen honorary members and one permanent member in Tegal, Central Java. There were such a protest from Islamic circle community towards this appointment, but the Directorate replied that the appointment was due to the emergency reasons. There was no male qualified to be appointed as a judge, while the appointment of female judges was possible because it does not lead to the damage of a significant problem. (Daniel S. Lev in "Peradilan Agama islam").
Classic Fiqh References
Before the Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI) is composed, there were 13 classical books of fiqh that adopted by the religious judges in resolving such cases. Almost all of these books are Shafi’i based school of thought, which are commonly used in Islamic boarding schools (pesantren). Then, in 1976 the references were added by other classical books of fiqh coming from another school of thought, such as Zaadul Ma'ad, the work of Ibn al-Qayyim (Hambali), Al Muhalla, by Ibn Hazm (Hanafi), Bidayatul Mujtahid, the work of Muslim Philosopher Ibn Rushd, and Fiqhus Sunnah by Sayyid Sabiq.
Syaria Lawyers
On January 6, 1983, the Chief Justice Mudjono and the Minister of Religious Affairs Alamsyah signed a joint decree (SKB). One of the key points contained in the decree is permissibility of Islamic scholars to provide legal assistance in religious courts. Beside the school of law graduates, Islamic law graduates also have a chance to practice legal assistances in religious courts.
200 Questionnaires
In January 1986, the Ministry of Religious Affairs working with the Supreme Court distributed 200 questionnaires in 10 cities in Indonesia. The questionnaires were addressed to Moslem scholars who have affiliation with Nahdhatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah, Persis, and other Islamic organizations. Each questionnaire consists of 102 questions contains the substance of family law such as marriage, divorce, reconciliation, adoption, child custody, and particular issues like inheritance, testament, grants, and donation. The questionnaires were aimed to collect such ideas regarding the preparation of the Compilation of Islamic Law.
The Prohibition of Cassation
On May 1, 1978, the Director of Islamic Courts Guiding, H. Ichtijanto SA., SH., sent a circular letter to all High Religious Courts instructing the courts not to serve any cassation addressed to the Supreme Court since there was no implementing regulation regarding the cassation as there was no a supreme court justice from religious court background.
Prior to January 7, 1986, when the Chief Justice Mudjono and the Minister of Religious Affairs Alamsyah signed a joint decree allowing the cassation, the judgment of Islamic High Courts was final and binding. [SQ]