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' t_;_"' . . " " ǣ I J ଦ:: :\,. ో തJ ഥ u . ) if Lr-ౌ ) ශ ) ,,.. @ ,,.. ,,.. ,,. ,,,. ,,.. ... _ .... - ,, ǰ ,, ~\\ 0;; 9l/;1;1j "And get two witnesses from among your men. And if there are not two men [available], then a man and two women, such as you agree for witnesses" (al­ Baqara 282). Female Witnesses The last case cited above brings up the question of female witnesses. Since this is a widely misunderstood issue, it shall also be discussed separately in some detail. 2 First, it should be noted that Islam is the religion that is based on revelation from the Creator. Allah, the Creator, knows the abilities and limitations of all of His creatures. He has laid down His laws, based on His wisdom and mercy, in such a way that no one is unfairly burdened beyond his normal means. Furthermore, the laws are concerned with normal and usual 1 Al-Bugha and Mistu, p. 244. 2 The following discussion is based on al-Mutlaq, pp. 26-74. Hadith #33: "Were People to be Given . . . " circumstances and are not founded on unusual or exceptional circumstances. When it comes to the question of witnesses or testimony, the normal abilities of both men and women are taken into consideration. 1 This is why the rulings concerning female witnesses differs from that concerning male witnesses. In some cases, a woman's testimony by herself is sufficient; in other cases, it is equivalent to that of a man; in yet other cases, it is equivalent to half of that of a man; sometimes, according to some scholars, it is not accepted. The cases where only women's testimony is accepted are those matters concerning which men are not familiar or do not have privy to such information. For example, cases related to women's menses, post-childbirth bleeding and so forth are cases wherein women's testimony alone are going to be accepted. According to Mahmassani, all the schools of fiqh accept this principle, they differ only as to the number of female witnesses required in different cases.2 Similarly, a woman's testimony concerning breastfeeding, pregnancy, the birth of a child and the child's crying at birth will be accepted on her own, according to the Hanbalis. The Prophet (peace be upon him) separated a man and his wife when a woman came testifying that she had breastfed both of them. (Recorded by al-Bukhari.) Abdul Razzaaq records that Uthman followed that same practice of accepting one woman's testimony that she had breastfed specific people. In other cases, the testimony of a woman is exactly equal to the testimony of a man. This is, in particular, true for what is today termed, "expert testimony". If a woman is a doctor, for example, and she testifies based on her knowledge and expertise, there would not be any difference between her testimony and a male doctor's testimony. Another example is that of a woman tailor. If she testifies in a court that a certain garment is not up to standard quality, her testimony would be accepted and would be the same as if a male tailor had made that testimony. There is precedence in this approach in some hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and actions of Umar ibn al­ Khattaab. The Hanafis, for example, accept the testimony of one woman's sighting of the moon for Ramadhan because it is a report of a religious nature for which one woman is sufficient. This is also the view of the Hanbalis and some Shafiees. In some cases, though, the witness of two women will be considered equivalent to the witness of one man. These are in those areas concerning 1 Mahmassani wrote, "It is an accepted social fact that women are Jess experienced than men in matters of practical life. This has been the case since the ancient days. A number of legal systems did not accept the testimony of women at all, such as the Jewish law; where it was accepted, there were certain reservations. For example, the legal codes of some of the Swiss cantons, until the beginning of the 19th Century, regarded the testimony of two women as equivalent to the testimony of one man, and similarly, in the French law the testimony of a woman was not accepted as eiual to that of a man. Even the Code Napoleon, before it was amended in the latter part of the 191 Century, excluded the testimony of women in testamentary dispositions and in a number of transactions pertaining to personal status." Mahmassani, pp. 179-1 80. 2 Mahmassani, p. 180. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi which women usually do not have as much experience as men, especially in an Islamic environment. The first of these categories in which two women are equal to one man are matters related to wealth, monetary matters and financial transactions.