Sustainable Family Well-Being from the Perspective of Maqaṣid al-Usrah and Islamic Ecotheology: Study of the Free Nutritious Meals Program

Abstract

Family well-being in Islamic family law has traditionally been discussed through maintenance obligations, caregiving, the protection of family members, and the continuity of generations. However, nutritional vulnerability, unequal access to healthy food, and the problems of food loss and food waste demonstrate that family well-being cannot be understood solely through the fulfillment of economic needs. This study examines sustainable family well-being through Maqāṣid al-Usrah as the primary framework of Islamic family law and Islamic ecotheological ethics, particularly the principles of anti-israf and anti-tabdzir, using Indonesia’s Free Nutritious Meals Program as a normative policy context. The study employs normative legal research based on a literature review by examining Islamic family law sources, relevant regulations and policy documents concerning the Free Nutritious Meals Program, and scholarly literature on nutritional rights, family well-being, food security, food governance, and Islamic environmental ethics. The analysis is structured through four operational dimensions of Maqāṣid al-Usrah namely family tranquility, protection of family members’ rights, preservation and enhancement of generational quality, and social justice in access to resources. The findings demonstrate that nutritional fulfillment constitutes a substantive component of family maintenance and protection, while the Free Nutritious Meals Program can be normatively positioned as a form of complementary state support that strengthens rather than replaces the family’s primary maintenance obligations. From the perspective of Islamic ecotheological ethics, anti-israf and anti-tabdzir provide a normative basis for preventing food loss and food waste in the provision of the Free Nutritious Meals Program, thereby ensuring that the fulfillment of nutritional rights is accompanied by responsible and sustainable resource use. This study formulates Maqāṣid al-Usrah-Based Sustainable Family Well-Being as an integrative framework linking Islamic family law, nutritional rights, family-state complementarity, food-waste prevention, and sustainable food governance. Keywords: Free Nutritious Meals Program; Islamic Ecotheology; Islamic Family Law; Maqāṣid al-Usrah; Sustainable Family Well-Being.