Marriage Contract Through Teleconferencing in The View of Contemporary Scholars

Getting Married via teleconference is considered as a practical solution for couples separated by distance. However, Majma‘ al-Fiqh al-Islāmī al-Dawlī has issued a fatwa stating that teleconference marriage contracts are not permissible. This research aims to analyze the relevance of this fatwa in the context of modern Muslim society, by focusing on the problem formulation: 1) What was the opinion of the Majma‘ al-Fiqh al-Islāmī al-Dawlī on the marriage contracts via teleconference, 2) How was the discourse of Islamic institutions and contemporary Ulama’ regarding this issue, and 3) What was the relevance is this fatwa for today's Muslim society. The method used in this research was qualitative research. with a normative theological approach, emphasizing Qaidah Fiqhiyah such as Taghayyur al-Fatwa bi Taghayyur al-Zaman wa al-Makan, Sadd Dhari‘ah, and maslahah, alongside a normative juridical approach based on Indonesian marriage law. Primary data were obtained from official documents of Majma‘ al-Fiqh al-Islāmī al-Dawlī, complemented by secondary data. The result of this research showed that: 1) Majma‘ al-Fiqh al-Islāmī al-Dawlī considers teleconference marriage contracts invalid, 2) there are differing opinions among contemporary Ulama and Islamic institutions, and 3) the fatwa is not relevant to the needs of modern Muslim society, especially in the context of globalization and technological advancements.