ASN from Ministry of Religious Affairs Earns Doctorate for Research on Ulama Hegemony in Child Marriage Practices in Aceh
A civil servant (ASN) from the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) in Aceh, Muhammad Nasril, Lc., M.A., has officially earned a doctorate in Islamic Studies from the Postgraduate School (Sps) of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta after passing his open doctoral promotion exam on Wednesday (13/5/2026).
Nasril successfully answered questions and defended his dissertation before the examination panel, achieving a score of 93.33 and earning the predicate of very satisfactory. The dissertation promotion session was attended by former Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin along with his wife Trisna Willi, colleagues from Kemenag RI, Kemenag Aceh, Dayah Insan Qurani in Aceh Besar, and numerous other guests who filled the hall.
The head of the examination panel, Prof. Dr. Zulkifli, M.A., stated that Muhammad Nasril is the 1,678th doctorate recipient from Sps UIN Jakarta. He is deemed worthy of the doctoral (Dr) title in Islamic Studies, specifically in the field of Islamic Law, after fulfilling all academic requirements.
“Based on the results of the examination session and semester grades, Muhammad Nasril is declared to have passed and is entitled to receive the doctoral degree with the predicate of very satisfactory. In principle, the candidate deserves the cum laude predicate, but due to new regulations requiring a study period of three years or six semesters, the candidate does not receive cum laude,” Zulkifli said while reading out the session results.
This achievement is even more commendable as Nasril is a recipient of the Bangkit Indonesia Scholarship (BIB) from the Ministry of Religious Affairs–LPDP, who completed his doctoral studies on time in line with the eight-semester scholarship contract.
In the academic session, Nasril presented a dissertation titled “Hegemony of Ulama in the Practice of Child Marriage in Aceh,” which examines the strong influence of religious authority on child marriage practices in Acehnese society through a Gramscian hegemony approach.
The research investigates how religious legitimacy, local culture, and the social structures of the community shape the ongoing practice of child marriage in several regions of Aceh. According to Nasril, the marriage age limit in Aceh is not understood in a singular manner but emerges from the dialectics between state law, fiqh, customs, and societal social realities.