Woman’s
Testimony in Islaam!
By:
Shahid Bin Waheed شاهد بن
وحيد
بسم الله
الرحمن
الرحيم
الحمدلله
رب العالمين
والصلوة
والسلام على اشرف
الانبياء
وسيدالمرسلين
نبينا محمد صل
ا لله عليه
وعلى آله
واصحابه
وازواجه
اجمعين -
امابعد
All the praises and thanks be to Allaah, Sustainer of the Universe, and blessing and salutation to be the most distinguish of the Messengers and foremost among the Prophets, our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allaah be on him and on his wives, children and Companions.
Surah Al-Baqarah 282
يَا
أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا إِذَا
تَدَايَنْتُمْ
بِدَيْنٍ
إِلَى أَجَلٍ
مُسَمًّى
فَاكْتُبُوهُ وَلْيَكْتُبْ
بَيْنَكُمْ
كَاتِبٌ
بِالْعَدْلِ
وَلَا يَأْبَ
كَاتِبٌ أَنْ
يَكْتُبَ
كَمَا عَلَّمَهُ
اللَّهُ
فَلْيَكْتُبْ
وَلْيُمْلِلِ
الَّذِي
عَلَيْهِ
الْحَقُّ وَلْيَتَّقِ
اللَّهَ
رَبَّهُ
وَلَا
يَبْخَسْ
مِنْهُ شَيْئًا
فَإِنْ كَانَ
الَّذِي
عَلَيْهِ
الْحَقُّ سَفِيهًا
أَوْ
ضَعِيفًا
أَوْ لَا
يَسْتَطِيعُ
أَنْ يُمِلَّ
هُوَ
فَلْيُمْلِلْ
وَلِيُّهُ
بِالْعَدْلِ
وَاسْتَشْهِدُوا
شَهِيدَيْنِ
مِنْ
رِجَالِكُمْ
فَإِنْ لَمْ
يَكُونَا
رَجُلَيْنِ
فَرَجُلٌ
وَامْرَأَتَانِ
مِمَّنْ تَرْضَوْنَ
مِنَ
الشُّهَدَاءِ
أَنْ تَضِلَّ
إِحْدَاهُمَا
فَتُذَكِّرَ
إِحْدَاهُمَا
الْأُخْرَى
وَلَا يَأْبَ
الشُّهَدَاءُ
إِذَا مَا
دُعُوا وَلَا
تَسْأَمُوا
أَنْ تَكْتُبُوهُ
صَغِيرًا
أَوْ
كَبِيرًا
إِلَى أَجَلِهِ
ذَلِكُمْ
أَقْسَطُ
عِنْدَ
اللَّهِ
وَأَقْوَمُ
لِلشَّهَادَةِ
وَأَدْنَى
أَلَّا
تَرْتَابُوا
إِلَّا أَنْ
تَكُونَ
تِجَارَةً
حَاضِرَةً
تُدِيرُونَهَا
بَيْنَكُمْ
فَلَيْسَ
عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ
أَلَّا
تَكْتُبُوهَا
وَأَشْهِدُوا
إِذَا
تَبَايَعْتُمْ
وَلَا
يُضَارَّ كَاتِبٌ
وَلَا
شَهِيدٌ وَإِنْ
تَفْعَلُوا
فَإِنَّهُ
فُسُوقٌ بِكُمْ
وَاتَّقُوا
اللَّهَ
وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ
اللَّهُ
وَاللَّهُ
بِكُلِّ
شَيْءٍ
عَلِيمٌ
O you who believe! When you contract a debt for a fixed period, write it down. Let a scribe write it down in justice between you. Let not the scribe refuse to write as Allâh has taught him, so let him write. Let him (the debtor) who incurs the liability dictate, and he must fear Allâh, his Lord, and diminish not anything of what he owes. But if the debtor is of poor understanding, or weak, or is unable to dictate for himself, then let his guardian dictate in justice. And get two witnesses out of your own men. And if there are not two men (available), then a man and two women, such as you agree for witnesses, so that if one of them (two women) errs, the other can remind her. And the witnesses should not refuse when they are called (for evidence). You should not become weary to write it (your contract), whether it be small or big, for its fixed term, that is more just with Allâh; more solid as evidence, and more convenient to prevent doubts among yourselves, save when it is a present trade which you carry out on the spot among yourselves, then there is no sin on you if you do not write it down. But take witnesses whenever you make a commercial contract. Let neither scribe nor witness suffer any harm, but if you do (such harm), it would be wickedness in you. So be afraid of Allâh; and Allâh teaches you. And Allâh is the All-Knower of each and everything.
The Qur’aanic injunction on Loan!
Glorious Qur’aan Ayaat
2:282-283 has taken up an important law of contracts with specific principles
of general rules of evidence. The colored text represents the commands with
reference of Qur’aanic Ayaah and/or it’s English translation above. Two principles have been stated here:
(1)
A written document
should be prepared while concluding a transaction on deferred payment basis, so
that it may be availed of in cases of error and/or refusal.
(1)
While making a
transaction on deferred payment basis, it is necessary that the due date of its
payment should be determined. It is not permissible to defer the payment for an
indefinite period of time because this can open the doors of dispute.
The
instructions given require that the scribe should not be prejudiced in
favor of one of the parties. On the contrary, scribe must be impartial so that
there remains no scope of doubt or concern for anyone. Secondly, the
scribe is commanded to write justly. As to who should initiate the documentation and/or writing
the contract, if a person has made a purchase on credit, then he is the one who
should dictate the entries of the document because this will be a written
agreement on his behalf. In order to offset
the possibility of any addition and/or deletion in the written document it is
said,
and he must fear Allâh, his Lord, and diminish not anything of what he owes.
Up to this point the statement
was limited to the writing and/or dictating the document for the transaction.
Latter part of the Ayaah 2:282 decrees that the writing of the document should
not be taken as sufficient. It should rather have witnesses as well so that,
in case of a dispute, the appearance of witnesses in the court could help resolve
the dispute. Muslim Jurists have
unanimously said that simple writing an agreement is not a conclusive proof in
the sight of Islaamic Shariah. Unless, there is an oral evidence of witnesses, as approved
by the Shariah, on the agreement no decision could be taken on writing alone. Common courts of today around the globe also
follow the same practice requiring oral testimony of witness[es] to prove the document.
The Ayaah 2:282 also define the rules of evidence for loan and/or financial transactions, making it necessary that there be two men, or one man and two women. One man alone, or two women are not sufficient witnesses in such dealings. As for the qualifications of witnesses, they should be Muslims as explicitly stated in the Qur’aan expression in Ayaah 2:282,
مِنْ
رِجَالِكُمْ
out
of your own men
Readers must know that according to the Bible and/or
Judeo-Christian code the testimony of a woman is inadmissible.
The witnesses must be all men, no women and children. Contrary to that,
·
In the financial matters described in Ayaah
2:282, two women’s testimony is also for woman’s protection. That
is rather advantageous to women, which is obvious if one reads the Ayaah 2:282
carefully and ponder upon it.
· For moon sighting a single woman’s testimony is enough to declare Islaamic festivals of Eids عيدين and/or Ramaadan رمضان.
· In Islaam, rape cases (as victim) single women’s (victim’s) testimony is enough to put guilty man to death.
Contrary
to that according to the Bible (In Judaism & Christianity) sexual
intercourse with another man's wife was adultery under Hebrew law, a violation
of the seventh commandment (Ex. 20:14; Deut. 5:18) punishable by death for the
adulterers (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22). Presumably the wife would be executed
only if she consented to the sexual encounter, though in the text itself no
distinction is made between rape and consent of a married woman.
With
regard to the rape of a virgin, the fate of the rapist depended on whether or
not the virgin was betrothed to another man at the time. If
betrothed, she was considered to belong to her future husband, in which case
the rapist faced death (Deut. 22:23). If the damsel was not betrothed,
the rapist was required to marry her, paying her father the bride price or mohar of fifty shekels of silver, and could not
divorce her "all his days" (Deut. 22:28-29).
The only proof of rape provided
according to the Bible is the betrothed virgin screaming for help. If the
sexual incident occurred in the city, where someone presumably could hear the
virgin scream but no one did, she was assumed to be guilty of consent and
would die along with the man (Deut. 22:23-24). The virgin would be
spared if the incident occurred "in the field," where she may have
screamed but "there was none to save her" (Deut. 22:25-26).
A few comments on this text are essential in order to
prevent common misinterpretations:
a. It cannot be used as an argument that there is a general rule in the Qur'aan
that the worth of a female's witness is only half the male's.
This presumed "rule" is voided by the Glorious Qur’aan 24:6-9,
which explicitly equates the testimony of both genders.
b. The context of this passage (verse, or Ayaah 2:282) relates to testimony on
financial transactions, which are often complex and laden with business jargon.
The passage does not make blanket generalization that would otherwise
contradict Glorious Qur’aan 24:6-9.
c. The reason for variations in
the number of male and female witnesses required is given in the same passage.
No reference is made to the inferiority or superiority of one gender's witness
or the other's. The only reason given is to corroborate the female's witness
and prevent unintended errors in the perception of the business deal. The
Arabic term used in this passage, tadhilla تَضِلَّ, literally means "loses the
way," "gets confused," or "errs." One possible
interpretation of the requirements related to this particular type of testimony
is that in numerous societies, past and present, women generally may not be
heavily involved with and experienced in business transactions. As such, they
may not be completely cognizant of what is involved. Therefore, corroboration
of a woman's testimony by another woman who may be present ascertains accuracy
and, hence, justice. It would be unreasonable to interpret this requirement as
a reflection on the worth of women's testimony, as it is the only exception
discerned from the text of the Qur'an. This may be one reason why a great
scholar like At-Tabari could not find any evidence
from any primary text (Qur'aan or Hadeeth) to exclude
women from something more important than testimony: being herself a judge who
hears and evaluates the testimony of others.
d. It must be added that unlike pure acts of worship, which must be observed
exactly as taught by the Prophet Muhammad صلى
الله عليه
وسلم,
testimony is a means to an end, ascertaining justice as a major objective of
Islamic law. Therefore, it is the duty of a fair judge to be guided by this
objective when assessing the worth and credibility of a given testimony,
regardless of the gender of the witness. A witness of a female graduate of a
business school is certainly far more worthy than the witness of an illiterate
person with no business education or experience.
The distinction (if it can ever be called one) between man and woman is
not due to any preference by Allaah, of the man or the woman on one being
nobler or closer to the Lord. As a rule, it is piety or consciousness that is
what measures one as nobler and closer to Allaah as we read in the Glorious
Qur’aan Ayaah,
Surah Al-Hujurat 13
يَا
أَيُّهَا
النَّاسُ
إِنَّا
خَلَقْنَاكُمْ
مِنْ ذَكَرٍ
وَأُنْثَى
وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ
شُعُوبًا
وَقَبَائِلَ
لِتَعَارَفُوا
إِنَّ
أَكْرَمَكُمْ
عِنْدَ
اللَّهِ
أَتْقَاكُمْ
إِنَّ
اللَّهَ
عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allâh is that (believer) who has At-Taqwâ (i.e. he is one of the Muttaqûn (the pious. See V.2: 2)). Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.
However, the distinction made in the Ayaah 2:282 is
merely conditioned by the different tasks assigned to each of the two sexes by
virtue of their natural disposition.
Those who attack Islaam and/or Glorious Qur’aan are
ignorant of the principles of evidence in Islaam and the numbers of witness
required thereof. Islaamic Shariah شريعه has fixed number of
witness for establishing proof of certain offenses and rights. The number
differs according to Madhab مذهب
and according to cases. According to Jurists, the specification of the
number of witnesses is a matter contrary to analogy because determination of
the truth depends upon the credibility of witnesses and not upon their number.
Thursday, March 10, 2005