Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam. Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion онлайн

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The evidence required in a case of whoredom is that of four men, as has been ruled in the Qurʾān (Sūrah xxiv. 3); and the testimony of a woman in such a case is not admitted; because, az-Zuhrī says, “in the time of the Prophet and his two immediate successors, it was an invariable rule to exclude the evidence of women in all cases inducing punishment or retaliation,” and also because the testimony of women involves a degree of doubt, as it is merely a substitute for evidence, being accepted only where the testimony of men cannot be had; and therefore it is not admitted in any matter liable to drop from the existence of a doubt.

The evidence required in other criminal cases is that of two men, according to the text of the Qurʾān; and the testimony of women is not admitted, on the strength of the tradition of az-Zuhrī above quoted. In all other cases the evidence required is that of two men, or of one man and two women, whether the case relate to property or to other rights, such as marriage, divorce, agency, executorship, or the like. Ash-Shāfiʿī has said that the evidence of one man and two women cannot be admitted, excepting in cases that relate to property, or its dependencies, such as hire, bail, and so forth; because the evidence of women is originally inadmissible on account of their defect of understanding, their want of memory and incapacity of governing, whence it is that their evidence is not admitted in criminal cases.