Between Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ah and CEDAW: Comparing Islamic Family Law and Indonesian National Law in the Protection of Women’s Rights

Abstract

Debates on women’s rights in Muslim family law often move between religious normativity and the demands of national and international legal protection. This article compares Islamic family law, Indonesian national law, and CEDAW through the lens of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah to examine the protection of women’s rights in marital authority, polygamy, divorce, post-divorce economic entitlements, domestic violence, and legal pluralism. This study employs normative legal research with conceptual, statutory, and comparative approaches. The data consist of CEDAW, Indonesian legal instruments, Islamic legal discourse, and 27 accredited journal articles published between 2023 and 2026. The materials are analyzed through content analysis and critical-comparative interpretation by mapping the principles of non-discrimination, harm prevention, dignity, reciprocity, and substantive justice. The findings show three patterns. First, maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah, CEDAW, and Indonesian national law converge in the protection of dignity, life, family welfare, economic security, and access to justice. Second, tensions persist in the interpretation of qiwāmah, polygamy, divorce mediation, economic execution, psychological violence, and customary or digital patriarchies. Third, legal protection becomes effective only when formal norms are translated into institutional sensitivity, judicial enforceability, and social transformation. This article proposes an integrative-comparative model that positions CEDAW as a diagnostic framework for discrimination, national law as a regulatory instrument, and maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah as an internal Islamic evaluative framework for preventing harm and realizing substantive justice.