Grounding Shariah through the Flexi-Parenting Approach to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Family Life

Abstract

Background: Contemporary Muslim families face increasingly complex challenges due to changing gender roles, dual-income households, and shifting parental responsibilities. While Islamic family law provides normative guidance for family life, limited scholarship has systematically integrated Islamic legal principles, maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into a coherent framework for contemporary parenting. This study addresses this gap by examining Flexi-Parenting as a contextual approach to shared parental responsibilities grounded in Shariah.

Methods: This study employs qualitative normative legal research using doctrinal and conceptual approaches. Primary sources include the Qur’an, Sunnah, classical and contemporary Islamic legal literature, and relevant family law regulations, while secondary sources comprise scholarly works on parenting, family resilience, maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah, and SDGs. Data were analyzed through doctrinal interpretation and qualitative content analysis.

Results: The analysis demonstrates that Flexi-Parenting is consistent with the Islamic principles of ta‘āwun (mutual cooperation), ‘adl (justice), mas’ūliyyah (shared responsibility), and maṣlaḥah (public welfare). The framework supports a contextual distribution of parental responsibilities according to family circumstances while preserving Islamic legal objectives and contributing conceptually to SDG 3, SDG 5, and SDG 16.

Discussion: The findings indicate that Islamic family law possesses interpretive flexibility to accommodate contemporary parenting arrangements without compromising its normative foundations. Integrating maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah with parenting discourse strengthens family resilience and sustainable family development.

Conclusion: Flexi-Parenting provides a contextual Shariah-based framework that promotes balanced parental involvement, family well-being, and the practical relevance of Islamic family law in addressing contemporary social change.

Novelty: This study develops an integrated doctrinal framework that systematically connects Islamic family law, maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah, contextual parental role-sharing, and selected SDGs through the concept of Flexi-Parenting.