Electronic Evidence and the Transformation of Proof in Islamic Divorce Proceedings: A Narrative Review of Evidentiary Practices in Digital Family Law

Abstract

The study has mainly examined the admissibility of electronic evidence, but have not sufficiently explained how digital evidence transforms the broader architecture of proof in Islamic divorce adjudication. Their growing use, however, raises more complex questions than formal admissibility alone, particularly concerning authenticity, integrity, reliability, relevance, and evidentiary weight. This article examines the forms and functions of electronic evidence in divorce proceedings and analyzes how its use transforms evidentiary practices from the perspective of Islamic family law. The study employs a narrative literature review of fifteen studies published between 2020 and 2025, comprising literature on electronic evidence, digital family law, divorce adjudication, and judicial reasoning. The selected studies were analyzed through thematic coding, categorization, comparison, and synthesis. The findings show that electronic evidence performs documentary, confirmatory, reconstructive, contextual, and procedural functions in establishing marital facts. More importantly, the literature demonstrates a shift from the formal recognition of digital materials toward increasingly demanding processes of authentication, contextual interpretation, corroboration, and judicial evaluation. This shift transforms evidentiary practices at material, procedural, and evaluative levels. From an Islamic family law perspective, electronic evidence may support judicial fact-finding when its use preserves authenticity, reliability, proportionality, evidentiary fairness, and the parties’ right to examine and challenge the evidence. This study contributes to contemporary Islamic family law scholarship by reconceptualizing electronic evidence as not merely a new form of proof, but as a transformation in how marital facts are constructed and assessed in divorce adjudication. Keywords: Digital Evidence; Divorce Proceedings; Electronic Evidence; Evidentiary Transformation; Islamic Family Law.