Controlled Legal Pluralism: Islamic Family Law Adaptation In Socialist-Secular China
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52496/mjhki.v3i2.80Keywords:
Controlled Legal Pluralism, Islamic Family Law, Legal Adaptation, Socialist-Secular ChinaAbstract
Islamic family law is the legal domain most directly confronted by state legal dominance in modern legal systems, particularly when the state places all family relations under a single formal legal framework. In China, the socialist-secular legal order affirms that marriage, divorce, inheritance, and domestic relations are governed exclusively by the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China, thereby excluding religious norms from formal recognition as a legal source. Existing studies on Islam and the state in China have largely focused on Muslim minority identity and religious regulation. Yet, they have not sufficiently explained how Islamic family law survives under conditions of legal centralization and strict administrative control. This study aims to analyze the forms of adaptation of Islamic family law within Muslim minority communities in China using a qualitative socio-legal approach, employing normative analysis of national legal regulations, administrative policies, and recent academic literature. The findings show that Islamic family law does not function as a formal legal system but survives through social practices such as religious marriage contracts conducted after civil registration, family mediation based on Islamic values, and inheritance deliberation within domestic spaces. These findings indicate that legal pluralism in China operates in a controlled form, in which religious norms remain socially operative without obtaining formal institutional legitimacy as long as they do not challenge state legal sovereignty. This article contributes to socio-legal scholarship by strengthening the concept of controlled legal pluralism as an analytical model for understanding the survival of Islamic family law in highly centralized non-Muslim states.
References
Abdullah Al-Ahsan. “Religious Adaptation among Hui Muslims.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 44, no. 1 (2024): 28–34.
Aharon Layish. “Religious Family Norms under Secular Jurisdiction.” Islamic Law and Society 31, no. 2 (2024): 166–171.
Abdulah Pakarti, Muhammad Husni, Ending Solehudin, Maruf Maruf, Iqbal Saujan, and Saeideh Shakibiciu. 2025. “The Role and Application of ’Urf As a Source of Islamic Law: A Historical Review and Fiqhiyah Rules”. An-Nisa: Journal of Islamic Family Law 2 (3): 175-92. https://doi.org/10.63142/an-nisa.v2i3.300.
Abdulah Pakarti, Muhammad Husni, Wahyudi Wahyudi, Ah. Fathonih, Fauzan Ali Rasyid, and Husain Husain , trans. 2025. “The Construction of Islamic Law on Marriage: A Normative Study of Rights, Harmony, and Its Limits”. Al-Battar: Jurnal Pamungkas Hukum 2 (2): 99-111. https://doi.org/10.63142/al-battar.v2i2.172.
Ade Khoirunnisa, Retno Arimbi Dewi, Fatya Zahra Siahaan, Siti Samra, and Aulil Amri. 2025. “Comparison of Islamic Family Law in Malaysia and Indonesia”. An-Nisa: Journal of Islamic Family Law 2 (2): 109-20. https://doi.org/10.63142/an-nisa.v2i2.226.
———. Women and Islamic Law in a Non-Muslim State. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.
Arif, Nasr M., and Shaojin Chai. Chinese Islam: Models of Interaction with State and Society. London: Routledge, 2024.
Burhan Latip, Muhammad Husni Abdulah Pakarti, Nik Salida Suhaila Nik Saleh, Muhammad Zakir Husain, and Normadiah Daud. 2025. “Prohibition Vs Persistence: Contract Marriages Between the Objectives of Islamic Law and Local Legal Realities in Indonesia”. An-Nisa: Journal of Islamic Family Law 2 (4): 342-60. https://doi.org/10.63142/an-nisa.v2i4.471.
Chen, Jianfu. Chinese Law in Context. Leiden: Brill, 2023.
Chen, Jianlin. “Administrative Law and Social Governance in China.” Modern China 49, no. 2 (2023): 177–182.
Chen Yong. “Administrative Monitoring of Religious Personnel in Northwest China.” China Review 24, no. 1 (2024): 114–120.
Cotterrell, Roger. Sociology of Law: An Introduction. London: Routledge, 2021.
———. “From Living Law to Global Legal Pluralism.” Kobe University Law Review 49 (2015): 1–19.
Creswell, John W., and J. David Creswell. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. 6th ed. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2023.
Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China. Beijing: National People’s Congress, 2020.
Finder, Susan. “Family Law Reform under Chinese Civil Codification.” Chinese Journal of Comparative Law 11, no. 2 (2023): 201–214.
Griffiths, John. “What is Legal Pluralism?” Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 24, no. 1 (1986): 1–55.
Hak, Nora Abdul. “Islamic Family Law in Malaysia.” Ahkam: Jurnal Ilmu Syariah 23, no. 2 (2023): 201–214.
Hayati, Mala, Fakhrurrazi M. Yunus, and Gamal Achyar. 2025. “Child Rights Fulfilment in Families Practicing Early Marriage: A Juridical-Empirical Analysis of Child Protection Law Implementation in Blangkejeren, Gayo Lues Regency”. An-Nisa: Journal of Islamic Family Law 2 (4): 361-76. https://doi.org/10.63142/an-nisa.v2i4.474.
Hany Khairunnisa Kobat, Maila Lidinia, Nesi Alia Putri, Alray Habib Azmi, Muhammad Abrar, and Aulil Amri , trans. 2025. “Hukum Keluarga Islam Di Arab Saudi: Dinamika, Tantangan, Dan Arah Reformasi”. Al-Battar: Jurnal Pamungkas Hukum 2 (2): 112-21. https://doi.org/10.63142/al-battar.v2i2.266.
Hayati, Mala, Rahma Zulkhairi Yati, Aulil Amri, Putri Azizah, Henri Bimawan, and Inayatul Fitri. 2025. “Islamic Family Law in Tunisia: Reforms, Characteristics, and Challenges”. An-Nisa: Journal of Islamic Family Law 2 (3): 219-31. https://doi.org/10.63142/an-nisa.v2i3.244.
Imana, Yudi, and Imam Sucipto. 2024. “Konsep Dan Metode Ijtihad Dalam Islam: Sumber Penting Dalam Pengembangan Hukum Islam”. An-Nisa: Journal of Islamic Family Law 1 (3): 26-42. https://doi.org/10.63142/an-nisa.v1i3.64.
Kharlie, Ahmad Tholabi. Hukum Keluarga Islam Indonesia. Jakarta: Sinar Grafika, 2021.
———. “Islamic Family Law Adaptation in Minority Context.” Ahkam: Jurnal Ilmu Syariah 23, no. 2 (2023): 144–149.
Lipman, Jonathan N. Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019.
Li Wei. “Household Registration and Family Governance in China.” China Quarterly 259 (2024): 91–99.
Maznah Mohamad. Sharia and National Law in Malaysia. Singapore: NUS Press, 2021.
Menski, Werner. Comparative Law in a Global Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Mudzhar, M. Atho. “Family Law and Religious Persistence in Muslim Communities.” Samarah: Jurnal Hukum Keluarga dan Hukum Islam 8, no. 1 (2024): 214–219.
Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act. India, 1937.
Nik Saleh, Nik Salida Suhaila, Kamarul Adrian Akmar Noor Azmi, Nur Jihan Mardhiah Mohd. Nawi, Nur Yasmin Zawani Pakror Rozi, Siti Nurfaqihah Syafiqah Mustafa Kamal, and Amar Haziq Abd Shukur. 2025. “Legal Procedure and Formalities of Marriage Application in the State of Selangor: A Way Forward”. An-Nisa: Journal of Islamic Family Law 2 (1): 27-35. https://doi.org/10.63142/an-nisa.v2i1.111.
Petersen, Kristian. Interpreting Islam in China. New York: Oxford University Press, 2024.
Schreier, Margrit. Qualitative Content Analysis in Practice. London: Sage Publications, 2023.
Shachar, Ayelet. The Shifting Border of Religious Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.
Shen, Xianfa. “Legal Infrastructure and Domestic Regulation in Contemporary China.” China Law and Society Review 8, no. 1 (2024): 33–39.
Tamanaha, Brian Z. Legal Pluralism Explained: History, Theory, Consequences. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Assessment of Human Rights Concerns in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Geneva: United Nations, 2022.
Wang, Chao. “Legal Uniformity and Religious Practice in Contemporary China.” Journal of Contemporary China 33, no. 145 (2024): 112–129.
Wang, Xiaoxiao. “Religious Governance after the 2018 Regulation Reform.” China Perspectives 2024, no. 2: 57–61.
Yilmaz, Ihsan. Evolution of Unofficial Muslim Family Laws. Cham: Springer, 2023.
Zhang, Yuting. “Marriage Registration and Minority Legal Adaptation in China.” Asian Journal of Law and Society 10, no. 1 (2024): 44–78.
Zhao, Ming. “Inheritance Documentation and State Administration.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 29, no. 2 (2024): 214–219.
Zhao, Ming. “Family Registration and Legal Identity under Chinese Civil Administration.” Asian Journal of Comparative Law 19, no. 1 (2024): 66–72.
Zikry Rahmatillah, Ziyad Alrawasdeh, Rahmat Tarmizi, Aulil Amri, Noor Fadillah Hayatusyifa, Firli Jundy Liza, and Nur Lizawati. 2025. “Reform and Codification of Islamic Family Law in Turkey: From The Ottoman Law of Family Rights to the Turkish Civil Code of 1926”. An-Nisa: Journal of Islamic Family Law 2 (4): 326-41. https://doi.org/10.63142/an-nisa.v2i4.246.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Agus Irfan, M Saeful Amri, Warsiyah Warsiyah, M Ali Munkhakim (Author); Dian Naeli Sa'adah (Translator)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
