From an epistemological perspective, the environment creates knowledge and meaning of life for society.
Knowledge is used to achieve people's goals and expectations. This article examines the epistemology of
Islamic law in Indonesia, particularly on the north coast of Java, in the context of its social and cultural
background. To that end, this study investigated the works of KH. Bisri Musthofa, namely Tafsīr al-Ibrīz li
Ma'rifa Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-'Azīz and al-Azwād al-Musṭafawiyya fī Tarjama al-Arba'īn al-Nawawiyya.
Many have already discussed the works of KH. Bisri Musthofa, but only a few touch on the issue of Islamic
law in these works. This study argues that cultural context influences the authors of qur'anic and hadith
interpretations to negotiate their understanding of customs and traditions, including in Java. Thus, the
understanding of Islamic sharia on the north coast of Java is not passive, imitative and follows the thinking in
the Arabian peninsula. The interpretation of the Qur'an and the understanding of hadith in Java indicate an
active, creative and sustainable negotiation process related to the reality of society, social and cultural. This
process then reconciles the two sources of law, between religious texts and cultural and social realities, and
between sharia and haqiqa. Reconciliation shows that Islamic law was in its epistemic space on the north coast
of Java in the 20th century