Child Marriage in the Quran and Its Implication toward Family Law in Indonesia

Abstract

The prevalence of child marriage in Indonesia remains high, placing the country rank seventh globally. Both cultural and customary practices considerably contribute to this persistence, despite the legal reform enacted through Law No. 16 of 2019, which provisioned the raise of minimum marriage age. At the same time, several Qur’anic verses are every so often interpreted as legitimizing child marriage, creating tension between religious interpretation and contemporary legal regulations. This article offers a novel contribution by linking the socio-historical context of Qur’anic verses recounted to child marriage with the trajectory of Indonesia’s legal reforms, from Law No. 1 of 1974 to Law No. 16 of 2019. Through a socio-historical approach, this study exhibits that the Qur’anic passages to underage marriage were responses to specific social conditions in the seventh-century Arabia rather than normative endorsements. This finding implies that Indonesian family law should likewise adopt a context-responsive framework that considers local cultural dynamics and global human development standards. Consequently, the article argues that aligning legal policy with the Qur’an’s ethical trajectory, particularly its emphasis on justice, maturity, and social welfare, provides a stronger foundation for regulating child marriage in contemporary Indonesia.