Abstract
A pejorative assertion against Islam, extracted from a single verse concerning “attestation” between creditors and borrowers, is that a woman’s testimony is worth half a man’s, totally disregarding its logic, women’s unfamiliarity with financial transactions, and evidence of equal testimony in other areas, such as the transmission of the spiritual message, and adultery, which requires four eyewitnesses. If one or the other is unable to produce witnesses, the Qur’ān allows the resolution of matter by the pledging of oaths: swearing four consecutive times, before God and in front of a judge, to the accuracy of his/her testimony, followed by a fifth invoking divine curse upon oneself, if untruthful. This verbal encounter between them symbolizes an egalitarian exchange of evidence, via equal testimonies, with each person’s conscience being the only judge.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The Qur’ān 2:282.
- 2.
For more precision, see the work of the Egyptian scholar Muhammad ‘Imārra, At-tahrīr al-islāmī lil-mar’a (Dār ash-shurūq, 2002), p. 82. Also see the argument of Sheikh ‘Alī Jumu’a (Gomaa), the Mufti of Egypt, who confirms that verse 282 of sūrah 2 speaks about attestation (ishhād) and not testimony ( shahāda ) in Almar’a fī al-hadāra al-islāmiyya (Dār As-salām, 2008), p. 44.
- 3.
These include some early jurists such as Ibn Taymiyya and his disciple Ibn Qayyim and some contemporary ones such as Muhammad ‘Abduh and Muhammad Shaltūt.
- 4.
Cf. Ibn Qāyyim al-Jawziyya, I’lām al-muwaqqi’īn, vol. 1, p. 95.
- 5.
Cf. Tāhā Jābir al-Alwānī, The Testimony of Women in Islamic Law.
- 6.
The Qur’ān 2:143.
- 7.
Ibid. 22:78.
- 8.
Cf. Tafsīr Tabarī.
- 9.
The Qur’ān 9:105; hadīth reported in the Tafsīr of Tabari, a commentary on the verse.
- 10.
Ibid., 65:2. In the context of a couple’s wish to stay married at the end of the mandatory waiting period of three months, after the initiation of divorce procedures. In such a case, two witnesses must be called.
- 11.
Al-Rāzī, Mafātīh al-ghayb.
- 12.
The Qur’ān 24:2.
- 13.
The Qur’ān 4:15.
- 14.
Cf. Dr. al-‘Ajamī, “Adultère et lapidation,” in Que dit vraiment le Coran? (SRBs Editions, 2008), p. 44.
- 15.
The Qur’ān 24:4.
- 16.
It is surprising that Islamic law has preserved the rule of stoning while posing very demanding conditions as to proof of adultery, including specific details, e.g., the need to pass a wire between the bodies of the protagonists to prove it has actually happened. It is strictly contradictory to uphold stoning for adultery while formally affirming the impossibility of providing acceptable evidence.
- 17.
An unsubstantiated accusation is an offense called qadhf in the Qur’ān and is punishable by eighty lashes (24:4–9).
- 18.
Cf. Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr . Various hadīths on this subject were reported by Ahmad.
- 19.
Cf. supra.
- 20.
The Qur’ān 24:4–9.
- 21.
See the discussion and differences concerning the modalities of divorce in the legal treatise of Ibn Rushd (supra).
- 22.
In France, the legal disposition relative to honor crimes has disappeared from law texts with the reform of the criminal law of 1791 and was tacitly replaced by “crime of passion” where, half the time, the criminal responsible for the murder of the wife accused of adultery was acquitted.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lamrabet, A. (2018). The Equality of In-Court Testimony . In: Women and Men in the Qur’ān. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78741-1_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78741-1_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78740-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78741-1
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)