Reconstructing Family Resilience after Divorce: Islamic Legal Institutions in Banten, Indonesia

Family resilience in Islamic family law is often associated with the preservation of marriage. Yet marital continuity alone cannot establish whether the rights and welfare of family members are adequately protected, particularly when a marriage has irretrievably broken down. This article examines how Islamic family law and its institutional arrangements address family protection beyond marital dissolution, taking Banten as its contextual setting. It adopts a predominantly doctrinal socio-legal approach, analysing legislation, the Compilation of Islamic Law, judicial and institutional materials, published scholarship, and available Religious Court case data. Limited institutional observations provide supplementary context but are not treated as evidence of institutional effectiveness or as representing the perspectives of institutional actors. The analysis develops the concept of institutionally mediated family resilience, which understands family resilience as shaped not only by family relationships and adaptive capacities but also by the legal norms and institutional arrangements governing continuing rights and responsibilities. The proposed framework comprises three interconnected orientations: marital preservation, family protection, and relational continuity. This framework provides a basis for evaluating the role of Islamic family law beyond the preservation of marital ties, particularly in safeguarding children's rights, ensuring maintenance obligations, and sustaining parental responsibilities following divorce.