Neutralising Impediments: Obligatory Bequests for Non-Muslim Heirs and the Civil Relationship of Children Born out of Wedlock as the Silent Secularisation of Islamic Civil Law in Indonesia

Debates on legal secularisation in Indonesia largely concern criminal and constitutional law, although Islamic civil law may undergo similar changes through judicial interpretation. This article examines two developments: Supreme Court jurisprudence extending obligatory bequests (wasiat wajibah) to non-Muslim heirs, beginning with Decision No. 368 K/AG/1995, and Constitutional Court Decision No. 46/PUU-VIII/2010 concerning civil relationships between children born outside marriage and their biological fathers. Using normative legal research with statutory, case, conceptual, and philosophical approaches, the study applies a Three-Question Test addressing legal purpose, the nature of norms, and sources of legitimacy. The analysis finds that both developments only partially satisfy the purpose criterion and fail the normative-character criterion. Although religious difference and illicit sexual relations remain recognised impediments, their legal consequences are redirected through alternative mechanisms, described as the neutralisation of mani'. The article argues that judicial reasoning increasingly draws legitimacy from justice, pluralism, biological relationships, and non-discrimination rather than exclusively from revelation. It also identifies an expanded function of obligatory bequests, asymmetrical legal outcomes, and tensions surrounding the recognition of paternal relationships. Philosophically, these developments are interpreted as shifting lineage toward biological evidence and reshaping inheritance through judicial intervention. The study characterises this process as silent secularisation of Islamic civil law. It recommends codifying obligatory bequests with explicit limits and distinguishing paternal maintenance obligations from questions of lineage and inheritance, while retaining safeguards against discriminatory or inconsistent judicial application.