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Arya Mangunjaya. It provides: If the murderer is a slave, and the murdered is also
a slave, the murder is sentenced to qisas, death []
The punishment of had deals with robbery (sariqah), the false accusation of illegal
sexual intercourse (qazaf) and adultery (zin). The article on robbery is found in
several places, for example in article 43 of the Law of Sultan Haji Those who
steal the property of Portuguese, British, Dutch, Danish, and French, shall have
their hand cut off, if the value is one reyal (or more).
The article on qazaf and zina is found on page 120: The penalty for the false
accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse is 80 lashes. The punishment of adultery
is 100 lashes.
Although these three articles deal with Islamic penal law such as had and qisas, the
code also provides for the penalty of fines. For example the punishment of qazaf is
a fine according to article 5 in the Law of Kyai Arya Mangunjaya: Anyone
accusing a person of adultery that is not proven by judicial investigation, is
sentenced to a fine of 15 reyal. If he is a city man, the fine is 30 reyal.
The code therefore marginally incorporated elements of Islamic law in 52 articles.
Two chapters on family law and inheritance law are purely based on Islamic law.
Some articles borrowed the terms of sharia. Accordingly, our study shows that
Islamic law is only one of the sources of the Laws of the Sultanate of Banten and
not the major source. Sharia was referred to mainly in family law. At least the
vocal claim that sharia provided a basis of all laws across the sultanates is
unfounded in Banten.
The case of Banten should serve as a lesson at the national level. Politicians and
Islamic parties should avoid using the issue of sharia for their short-term agenda,
such as the Islamization of their localities through bylaws.
These bylaws on morality and behavior fail to touch real problems such as poverty,
unemployment and deforestation. Sharia must play a more substantial role and the
Risalah Yogyakarta recently issued by the Congress of Indonesian Islam
Community reflects this hope.
In seven points, the word sharia appears twice.
First, when it deals with a new approach as an alternative to economic
development.
Second, when it pertains to national problems such as narcotics and illegal drug
abuse, human trafficking, pornography and the abuse of liquor.
Obviously, sharia should be a source of morals and ethics for public policy and
lawmaking. But sharia would be also encapsulated and complemented by the
culture, traditions and values of Indonesian societies, in the nations modern legal
system and democracy.
Therefore, Indonesian sharia could be one of the sources of legislation in the
worlds largest Muslim country but not the single source.
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Politicians and Islamic parties should avoid using the issue of sharia for their shortterm agendas.
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The writer is the director of the Indonesian Sharia Watch NGO, a lecturer at the
Faculty of Sharia and Law, State Islamic University of Jakarta (UIN) and a
researcher at PPIM UIN Jakarta.