The Kaago-Ago Tradition of the Muna Tribe in Southeast Sulawesi from the Perspective of Islamic Legal Anthropology

Abstrak

The dialectic between Islamic law and customary law continues in Indonesian communities. Islam brought with it the value of harmonizing theoretical and practical concepts, so that religion does not exist in a cultural vacuum. This study aims to explain the practice of the kaago-ago ritual for the Muna community in Southeast Sulawesi. This research is an empirical study analyzed using the theory of Islamic legal anthropology. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, and document studies. The results show that the kaago-ago ritual is carried out as a medium for conducting cross-dimensional negotiations with supernatural beings to request permission to open plantation land for the Muna community in Southeast Sulawesi. The 'urf study argues that the kaago-ago ritual does not qualify as customary law according to sharia, because the ritual contains no benefits, is contrary to common sense, and contradicts the qath'i text. This ritual phenomenon certainly requires Muslim scholars worldwide to continue striving to carry out ijtihad regarding the integration of tradition and Islamic legal provisions. This article's study of the anthropological conception of Islamic law finds novelty that in the kaago-ago tradition there is a dialectic between Islamic teachings and tradition as well as between humans and nature which aims to find harmony and order as the function of law in society.