Essence and Goal of Marriage
religion. However, the policy of Umar bin Khathab is capable of showing yet another reason. It is said that the caliph forbid Thalhah ibn
Ubaidillah and Hudzifah ibn al-Yaman to marry women of the book, both Jewish and Christian. According to ath-Thabari, the prohibition
was given with the reason so that the Muslim community does not follow these two close companions of the Prophet in which it would
become a trend and the community would prefer marriage to women of the book than Muslim women, or there were also other reasoning which
is only known by the caliph at-Thabari, 2005:II, 464-465. This understanding shows that the prohibition of interreligious marriage was
political, in this case it was demography politics. If this understanding is broadened, then prohibition of marriages to unbelieving men and
women were also political keeping in mind that when al-Baqarah, 2:221 was revealed in the second year of Hijrah, the Islamic community in
Medina were engaged in war with the Quraysh unbelievers of Mecca. W.M. Watt is of the same view above, so that the verse in al-Maidah,
5:5 which allows marriage between Muslim men with women of the book is understood as a reconciliation effort of Muslims with Jews and
Christians after experiencing several conflicts of war Watt, 1972:200. Long after the revelation of al-Qur’an, political reasoning seems to still
be used in the prohibition of interreligious marriage which is ordained and decreed by religious institutions and the state in Indonesia. In the
case of Indonesian Council of Ulema MUI and Majelis Tarjih PP Muhammadiyah, this reasoning is obvious in their use of sad
adzdzari’ah as a basis in issuing fatwa. Sadd adz-adzari’ah is one of the methods in determining a legal view by closing the door of demerit
mudhorat. Interreligious marriage could cause religious controversy which has the potential to incite conflict since it could alter the
composition of the number of religious followers in demographic maps. For that reason both organizations forbid it in order to shut the door of
conflict and its impact which is considered as demerit to the Indonesian nation.
Therefore, it can be said that interreligious marriage, aside from being a religious issue, can also be a political one. As a religious issue,
on an individual level it can be overcome through faith. While as a political issue, it can be resolved through legislation which could
disregard differing faith as an obstacle to marriage. Presently, such legislation is unable to be carried out in Indonesia. This is why people
who believe that interreligious marriage is allowed in their religion can carry out interreligious marriage by listing their marriage in the Public
Records Office. If the office requires recommendation from an institution or organization, in which case well-established religious
institutions or organizations most likely do not intend to give one, then institutions or organizations active in interreligious harmony should
provide one and its authority be accepted to issue a recommendation. This policy could be accepted ethically as it guarantees citizen’s right to
have a family and descendants.