Negotiating Legal Pluralism: Customary Nobat Marriage and Islamic Law in Bayan, North Lombok

Abstract

This article analyzes the nobat (a Bayan customary marriage institution) marriage tradition practiced by the Sasak indigenous community in Andalan Village, Bayan (North Lombok), as a concrete site where customary norms, Islamic jurisprudence, and state regulation are continuously aligned to produce marital legitimacy. Using a qualitative socio-legal design, fieldwork in 2025 combined semi-structured interviews with five key actors (village authorities, a customary–religious leader, and recently married couples), direct observation of ritual stages, and review of relevant statutory and regional regulations. The findings show that nobat operates as a customary legal institution: it institutionalizes deliberation, deploys sajikrama (customary fine/compensation) as a restorative economic sanction, allows negotiated arrangements of guardianship when needed, and links communal validation to religious contracting and administrative registration in a sequential order. Rather than reflecting simple harmony between culture and religion, nobat illustrates dialogical legal pluralism in which authority and legality are co-produced through communal negotiation across overlapping normative orders. The study contributes to multicultural legal studies by demonstrating how indigenous institutions remain active agents in governing diversity and constructing justice within Indonesia’s layered legal landscape.