Digital Assets as Joint Property Objects in Muslim Marriages: Reconstruction of Islamic Civil Law Based on Maqāṣid al-Syarī‘ah

Abstract

The rapid expansion of digital assets within Muslim households has generated new legal challenges regarding their classification, ownership, and distribution as marital property. Existing regulations on joint property in Indonesia primarily address conventional tangible and financial assets, leaving uncertainty over digital assets such as cryptocurrency, digital wallets, monetized social media accounts, non-fungible tokens, online business platforms, and other digital economic resources acquired during marriage. This study aims to reconstruct the concept of digital assets as joint marital property from the perspective of Islamic civil law based on Maqāṣid al-Syarī‘ah. This research employs a normative juridical approach using statutory, conceptual, and case analyses. Primary legal materials include Indonesian marriage regulations, the Compilation of Islamic Law, and relevant judicial decisions, while secondary materials consist of classical and contemporary Islamic legal literature and scholarly publications on digital assets. The findings demonstrate that digital assets possessing lawful economic value, identifiable ownership, transferability, and measurable benefits fulfill the legal characteristics of property (māl) and therefore can be recognized as joint marital property when acquired during marriage. The reconstruction proposed through the framework of Maqāṣid al-Syarī‘ah, particularly the protection of wealth (ḥifẓ al-māl), justice, legal certainty, and public benefit, provides a more adaptive legal framework for resolving disputes involving digital assets. This study concludes that Islamic civil law requires contextual legal development to accommodate digital economic transformation and recommends strengthening statutory regulations and judicial guidelines to ensure equitable protection of the economic rights of spouses in the digital era.