From Disrespect to Recognition: The State’s Legal-Ethical Transformation in Ensuring the Constitutional Rights of Lombok’s Ahmadiyah Refugees

This study analyzes forms of discrimination and the transformation of state recognition toward Ahmadiyah refugees in Lombok across five basic service rights, namely population administration, education and health, marriage registration, psychosocial services, and adequate housing. It employs Axel Honneth’s recognition dimensions integrated with the dimensions of Jasser Auda’s maqāṣid system. This qualitative study employs in-depth interviews as its primary data source, complemented by national and international legal documents, books, and relevant articles as secondary data. The data were analyzed using reflective thematic analysis. The findings show two main points. First, prior to 2014, there was no form of state recognition of Ahmadiyah refugees in Lombok. They lived in displacement without population administration services, without marriage registration, experienced discrimination in education and health services, lacked psychosocial services, and lived in inadequate housing. This situation indicates the absence of recognition across three dimensions: love, right, and solidarity. Second, the transformation of recognition began in 2014 through population administration services, followed by marriage registration in 2015, psychosocial services in 2018, and limited relocation for Ahmadiyah refugees in East Lombok in 2021. This transformation marks a shift from Honneth’s linear assumption, as recognition began through structural state policies that restored self-respect, fostered self-esteem, and built self-confidence. This transformation also reflects an ethical shift toward public policy informed by maqāṣid al-sharīʿah, which this study conceptualizes as recognition of maqāṣid. While this study contributes to broadening the horizons of recognition theory and maqāṣid al-sharīʿah in the context of religious minorities, further research is needed because the study locus is limited to Lombok.