Discursive Contestations Between Adat and Islam: Reinterpreting the Living Law of Intra-Clan Marriage in Minangkabau
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14421/ahwal.2026.19103Keywords:
Adat and Islam, discursive legitimacy, kawin sesuku, living law, symbolic capitalAbstract
This study examines the prohibition of kawin sesuku (intra-clan marriage) in Minangkabau society as a manifestation of living Islamic law shaped through symbolic contestation between adat (custom) and Islam. Using a socio-legal framework that integrates Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Bourdieu’s field theory, the research analyzes three speeches from the 1980 Sulit Air Panel Discussion to examine how normative authority is discursively negotiated. The findings reveal three interpretive configurations: heterodoxy (Dt. Nan Sati), orthodoxy (Dt. Tanaro), and compromise (Dt. Pamuncak), each mobilizing distinct forms of symbolic capital to sustain, challenge, or reformulate customary legitimacy. Law appears not as a fixed doctrinal text but as a social field where meaning and authority are continually reconstructed. The analysis shows how Islamic legal ideas, such as the objectives of Islamic law and legitimate customary practice, are selectively invoked to justify competing claims of moral order. The study contributes to understanding Islamic law as a living and negotiated system in which doctrinal reasoning interacts with socio-cultural practice. However, the reliance on archival speeches and elite discourse limits engagement with everyday legal experiences. Future ethnographic and comparative research is needed to explore how ordinary Muslims reinterpret and contest customary and religious norms in their lived legal consciousness.
[Penelitian ini mengkaji larangan kawin sesuku dalam masyarakat Minangkabau sebagai manifestasi living Islamic law yang terbentuk melalui kontestasi simbolik antara adat dan Islam. Dengan menggunakan kerangka socio-legal yang mengintegrasikan Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) dan teori medan Pierre Bourdieu, penelitian ini menganalisis tiga pidato dalam Sulit Air Panel Discussion tahun 1980 untuk menelaah bagaimana normative authority dinegosiasikan secara diskursif. Temuan penelitian menunjukkan tiga konfigurasi penafsiran, yaitu heterodoxy (Dt. Nan Sati), orthodoxy (Dt. Tanaro), dan compromise (Dt. Pamuncak), yang masing-masing memobilisasi bentuk symbolic capital yang berbeda untuk mempertahankan, menantang, atau merumuskan kembali legitimasi adat. Hukum dalam konteks ini tidak tampil sebagai teks doktrinal yang tetap, melainkan sebagai social field tempat makna dan otoritas terus direkonstruksi. Analisis menunjukkan bahwa gagasan hukum Islam seperti tujuan hukum Islam dan praktik adat yang sah dimobilisasi secara selektif untuk membenarkan klaim yang saling bersaing mengenai tatanan moral. Penelitian ini berkontribusi pada pemahaman hukum Islam sebagai sistem yang hidup dan dinegosiasikan, di mana penalaran doktrinal berinteraksi dengan praktik sosial budaya. Namun, ketergantungan pada arsip pidato dan wacana elit membatasi keterlibatan penelitian ini dengan pengalaman hukum sehari-hari. Penelitian etnografis dan komparatif di masa depan diperlukan untuk menelaah bagaimana umat Islam biasa menafsirkan dan menegosiasikan norma adat dan agama dalam kesadaran hukum mereka sehari-hari.]
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