Legal Thinking of Islamic Inheritance Maulana Shaykh Muhammad Zainuddin Abdul Madjid

Abstract

This research discusses the legal opinion and practice of inheritance law proposed by Maulana Syaikh among Sasak community. This research focuses on the construction of the legal opinion of inheritance by Maulana Syaikh, the impacts of the legal opinion of inheritance by Maulana Syaikh for Sasak community, and the contribution of the legal opinion of inheritance by Maulana Syaikh for the development of Islamic laws. This was a library research. However, this research also needed sociological field data in order to reconstruct the legal opinion of inheritance by Maulana Syaikh. The data collection was done through documentation, interview, and observation. This research revealed that Sasak community has three patterns of distributing inheritance: a) If a person dies, the beneficiary who is entitled to all his wealth is the oldest son in his family. The oldest son who receives the wealth from the parents is responsible for all the needs of his younger siblings and families; b) If a person dies, his sons are entitled to lands and houses, while his daughters are entitled to any furnitures that are found in the house such as kitchen utensils and glassware; c) The distribution of inheritance is done before a person dies in the form of a will or grant. This often does not use Islamic laws as a reference. In fact, the presence of Maulana Syaikh with his legal opinion on inheritance based on Islamic law slowly replaced the practice of customary law whose impacts can be described as follows: a) The distribution of inheritance is done in accordance with the inheritance law written in a book tuhfat alampenaniyyah; b) The distribution of inheritance is done in accordance with the inheritance law, but the inheritance is distributed when a person is still alive; c) A part of the wealth is made as a grant, while the remaining is distributed in accordance with Islamic law on inheritance; d) Thedistribution of inheritance is done using a grant method in accordance with agreement among the family members; e) The distribution of inheritance is done using a will. Methodologically, Maulana Syaikh‟s opinion and practice of inheritance refer to bayani pattern, but in practice, Sasak community tends to use ijtihad maqasidi pattern.