METHODOLOGICAL RATIONALITY BEHIND THE NON-STANDARDIZATION OF TA'ZIR PUNISHMENTS IN HADITH: IMPLICATIONS FOR HANDLING SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN INDONESIA

Abstract

Sexual violence causes prolonged physical, emotional, and psychological trauma, necessitating a legal framework that not only punishes perpetrators but also prioritizes victim protection and recovery. The enactment of the Law on Sexual Violence Crimes (UU TPKS) in Indonesia marks a progressive shift towards victim-centered justice. However, its implementation often faces conservative religious resistance rooted in a rigid, textualist interpretation of Islamic criminal law, which tends to conflate all penal sanctions with the fixed punishments of hudud. This study aims to explore the methodological rationality behind the non-standardization of ta'zir (discretionary punishment) in the Hadith and its implications for handling sexual violence within the framework of the UU TPKS. Employing a normative-qualitative legal research method, this study utilizes Syuhudi Ismail's contextual hadith hermeneutics to analyze the classical hadith corpus, classical fiqh literature, and contemporary positive law. The findings reveal three main points. First, hadiths limiting ta'zir punishments must be interpreted contextually; the Prophet and classical jurists delegated the form and severity of ta'zir to the authorities based on the crime's severity, the perpetrator's condition, and the impact on the victim. Second, this non-standardization is not a legal vacuum but a methodological rationality reflecting the elasticity (murunah) of Islamic law, grounded in the individualization of punishment (tafrid al-'iqab) and restorative justice for human rights violations (Haqq al-Adami). Third, this flexibility provides a strong epistemological foundation for the UU TPKS. The law's provisions such as sentence enhancements based on unequal power relations and mandatory victim restitution are modern manifestations of ta'zir and radd al-mazhalim (restoring the rights of the oppressed) based on siyasah syar'iyyah (Islamic public policy). The study concludes that the flexibility of ta'zir allows Islamic criminal law to harmonize seamlessly with modern progressive jurisprudence, offering a contextual, humane, and victim-centric penal framework for addressing sexual violence in Indonesia.