Konstruksi Kewajiban dan Utang Mahar dalam Perkawinan Islam melalui Systematic Integrative Review dan Semiotika Peirce

Abstract

This study aims to show how the literature constructs mahr as a right, obligation, value, payment, deferral, and debt in Islamic marriage, and to interpret the signs and practices representing these obligations through Peircean semiotics from a socio-cultural accounting perspective. The data were drawn from Scopus-indexed literature searched on 13 August 2026 using title, abstract, and keyword fields. The final search identified 31 documents, which were screened using eight inclusion and exclusion criteria, resulting in 14 full-text articles that met the eligibility criteria and were included in the final analysis. The study employed a systematic integrative review involving data extraction and integrative synthesis, followed by Peircean semiotic analysis using the sign–object–interpretant relationship. The findings show that mahr is constructed as a woman’s economic right tied to the giver’s obligation and characterized by specific values and fulfillment mechanisms. Deferral does not automatically constitute debt; unpaid and outstanding represent unresolved obligations, whereas debt is constructed when the literature explicitly employs terms such as debt, binding debt, or creditor–debtor relationships. The semiotic analysis identifies four clusters of meaning: obligation formation, fulfillment and temporality, continuity of obligation, and representation and settlement. From a socio-cultural accounting perspective, these findings demonstrate that economic obligations may acquire meaning and binding force through social relations, religious norms, and the institution of marriage. This study proposes understanding mahr debt as a value-bearing relational obligation, rather than merely as a formal financial liability.