From legality to ethics: A Conceptual Effort in Bridging the Gap Between Legal Normative and Social Reality in Divorce

Abstract

This article aims to examine divorce from the perspective of Islamic law which leads to the need for a paradigm shift from a legalistic approach to an ethical approach. So far, divorce is often understood as a legal action that is legal or illegal, thus ignoring the social reality and the layered impact it causes, especially for women and children. This research departs from anxiety over the distance between epistemological-doctrinal and sociological legal norms of divorce. This research is a qualitative research with a philosophical-paradigmatic conceptual analysis method on the epistemology of Islamic law. The results of the study show that the reduction of divorce in the legality aspect has led to a reduction in the dimensions of ethics, responsibility, and substantive justice in the practice of talaq. The article also asserts that the principles of bi al-ma'rūf and tasrīḥ bi iḥsān need to be positioned as epistemological norms that bridge the gap between normative law and the social reality of divorce. This study concludes that understanding divorce as a socio-legal process requires the involvement of ethical values, empathy, and collective responsibility in each stage of divorce. Thus, Islamic divorce law functions not only as a legal instrument, but also as a conflict resolution mechanism oriented towards substantive justice and social welfare.