SHARIAsource

This recapitulation is written based on the indictments and verdicts of cases of khalwat in Sabang, Nangroe Aceh Darussalam between January to February 2017. All information was gathered directly from the official Mahkamah Syar’iyah (sharīʿa court)’s website http://www.ms-aceh.go.id

All seventeen cases were filed on the same day by the same public prosecutor. Even though the indictments of these cases do not specify the details of the events leading to the arrest of the defendants it is likely that these cases refer to the raid of twenty-three young people in Sabang in January 2017. The raid happened after the surrounding neighborhood of the hotels where twenty-three young people stayed the night to celebrate the end of school semester reported them to the Shari’a police. They were apprehended in five different hotels.[1] Out of these twenty-three people, only seventeen of them were formally charged with khalwat and brought to the Mahkamah Syar’iyah (Shari’a court) in Sabang.

[1] Irwan Saputra, "Libur Semester, 11 Pasang Muda-mudi Digaruk WH di Sejumlah Hotel di Sabang - Aceh - BERITAKINI - Media Online," BERITAKINI.CO, December 27, 2016, accessed October 02, 2017, http://www.beritakini.co/news/libur-semester-11-pasang-muda-mudi-digaruk-wh-di-sejumlah-hotel-di-sabang/index.html

This appeal against the ruling reported in Malaya Law Journal XVII 12 was made on the grounds that the Court had no jurisdiction to declare void the marriage between Maria Huberdina Hertogh and Inche Mansor Adabi, that Hertogh was a Muslim "in fact and in law," and that her marriage to Inche Mansor Adabi was valid. The Court ruled that the declaration of the illegality of the marriage was beyond the Court's jurisdiction, but that Hertogh was domiciled in Holland. As Inche Mansor Adabi had not proven that the marriage was valid by the laws of Holland, the Court had rightly ordered custody of Hertogh to be returned to her parents.

In this literary source purportedly recounting early episodes of judges, Abū Yūsuf (d. 182/798) issues a clever ruling for ʿAbbāsid Caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd, effectively saving his son – a prince – from an accusation of zinā (fornication or adultery) by operation of the “doubt canon,” which requires legal officials to “avoid criminal punishments in cases of doubt.” The doubt here is a judicial knowledge, rather than established evidence by a confession or witnesses. He is rewarded by being made Chief Judge (qāḍī al-quḍāt) of Baghdad.

ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ed. Wathāʼiq al-maḥākim al-sharʿiyya al-Miṣriyya ʿan al-jālīya al-Maghāribīya ibbān al-ʿaṣr al-ʿUthmānī, vol 1 of 4 (Zaghwan: Markaz al-Dirāsāt wa-al-Buḥūth al-ʻUthmānīyya wal-Mūrīskīyya wal-Tawthīq wal-Maʿlūmāt, 1992-2004), pp. 89-90.

Source:  Abd al-Raḥīm ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ed. Wathāʼiq al-maḥākim al-sharʿiyya al-Miṣriyya ʿan al-jālīya al-Maghāribīya ibbān al-ʿaṣr al-ʿUthmānī, vol 1 of 4 (Zaghwan: Markaz al-Dirāsāt wa-al-Buḥūth al-ʻUthmānīyya wal-Mūrīskīyya wal-Tawthīq wal-Maʿlūmāt, 1992-2004), p. 304.

 Abd al-Raḥīm ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ed. Wathāʼiq al-maḥākim al-sharʿiyya al-Miṣriyya ʿan al-jālīya al-Maghāribīya ibbān al-ʿaṣr al-ʿUthmānī, vol 1 of 4 (Zaghwan: Markaz al-Dirāsāt wa-al-Buḥūth al-ʻUthmānīyya wal-Mūrīskīyya wal-Tawthīq wal-Maʿlūmāt, 1992-2004), pp. 220-221.