Letter: What is Islamic law?

As far as I know, the law which is the sharia consist of objectives (maqasid), principles (qawaid), methodologies of the law and analysis (usul al-fiqh), and positive commandments (ahkam).

Furthermore, one can say that when studying the law, one must bear in mind about the proper balance to be struck between diversity and unity, not to mention between discourse and dogma. The passing of the jinayat (Islamic criminal code) by the Aceh Legislative Council makes me to ponder as it includes stoning as punishment for adultery.

I ponder on the competence of the Aceh Legislative Council because to me they are acting as a human agency in expressing the "Will of the Divine". This is very slippery terrain in the realm of religious dogma. If we argue that the majority of religious texts have one possible meaning, then we (in this case Aceh legislative Council) could go on to co-opt the authoritativeness of the religious texts and transform it into a tool for human authoritarianism (The Problem of Authority, The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourse by Khaled M. Abdou El fadl, 2001).

The Aceh legislative council passed the jinayat because they think they have the authority and know the Divine Will. I am aware that the Koran consistently refers to values such as justice, fairness, mercy and kindness as if they are what define human beings. Why weren't these values referred to by the Aceh legislative council when they worked on the jinayat? Having stoning as punishment for adultery seems not to correspond to the values that I mentioned above. It is not only a show of puritanism, it also question the notion of akhlaq (proper manners or morality).

Last but not least, the jinayat, which has this stoning punishment, is a set back for Indonesian law. Never forget, Aceh is part of Indonesia. This means there are standards to maintain as Indonesia and the Indonesian state apparatus, as representatives of the Indonesian people. These standards include our Constitution, our "common" history and our engagement with international codes and norms including CEDAW, the Declaration on Universal Human Rights, the Convention of the Rights of The Child, the Convention on Forced Labor, and so forth.

Introducing stoning as a punishment has tainted our image in international fora, within the region and also within Indonesia.

Maria Pakpahan
Edinburgh, UK