Maslahah Versus Textualism in Islamic Inheritance Law: An Analysis of Substitute Heirs in The Compilation of Islamic Law from the Perspective of Najmuddin Al-Thufi

Abstract

This article examines the legitimacy of the concept of the Substitute Heir as stipulated in Article 185 of the Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI) through the lens of Najmuddin Al-Thufi’s (657–716 H/1259–1316 CE) theory of Ri’ayah al-Maṣlaḥah. Unlike previous studies that approached the Substitute Heir through Hazairin’s bilateral theory or merely as part of the narrative of national legal reform, this research presents an epistemological argument that Article 185 of the KHI is fundamentally more aligned with Al-Thufi’s maslahat paradigm than with the textualism of classical faraʼiḍ. Using a normative-juridical method with conceptual, philosophical, and historical approaches, this article finds that: (1) Al-Thufi constructs the concept of maslahat as an independent legal instrument that, within the realm of muʿāmalah, can override the nash when there is a clear conflict with the public interest; (2) Article 185 of the Indonesian Islamic Family Law (KHI) constructs the substitution of heirs based on considerations of distributive justice, a concept unknown in the classical faraʼiḍ system; (3) epistemologically, the mechanism for substituting heirs represents the operationalization of riʿayah al-maṣlaḥah in the form of Indonesian Islamic family law legislation. These findings contribute theoretically to the discourse on contemporary Islamic inheritance law reform by offering a more coherent philosophical framework of justification compared to the textual-normative approach that has long dominated the literature on Islamic family law in Indonesia.