The interfaith marriage that was depicted on the viral video on social media is not registered in the religious affairs office
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Interfaith marriages could not be recognised and registered in local religious affairs offices, Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Zainut Tauhid Sa'adi stated regarding the recent viral video documenting interfaith marriages widely circulating on social media.

"The interfaith marriage that was depicted on the viral video on social media is not registered in the religious affairs office," Sa'adi noted in his written statement received in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The deputy minister remarked that the nation's prevailing legal basis on marriage is Law No. 16 of 2019 on Amendments to Law No. 1 of 1974 on marriage.

Article 2, paragraph 1 of the law elucidated that a marriage will be considered valid if performed according to religious law that persons involved in the matrimony profess, he noted.


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He also pointed out that the Constitutional Court had quashed a judicial review on the marriage law submitted in 2014.

"Hence, article 2, paragraph 1 of the marriage law still prevails," Sa'adi affirmed.

The deputy minister then urged residents to observe the religious law relevant to marriages, since matrimony, as a sacred union between two persons, could not be separated from religion.

"In Islam, a matrimony is a religious ritual that could not be separated from religion," he noted.

Meanwhile, Indonesia Ulema Council deputy chairperson Anwar Abbas stated that interfaith marriages are prohibited by religion and national laws.


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"In Islam, interfaith marriage is forbidden, and our national law also restricts the practice. As a Muslim, we must observe our religious teachings," according to Abbas.

Earlier, a video depicting an interfaith marriage between a Christian man and Muslim woman supposedly in Semarang, Central Java, turned viral and was widely distributed on social media.

The video revealed that after the marriage was officiated at an Islamic ceremony in a hotel, and the ceremony continued in a church where the couple received blessings for their marriage.

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Translator: Asep Firmansyah, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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