Women's Testimony in Islam: Why Two Women ≠ Half a Mind — The Complete Scholarly Analysis from Ibn Taymiyyah to Mahmoud Shaltut

The source of the doubt that its instigators believed that Islam had diminished the capacity of women, by making their testimony half that of men: [But if there are not two men, then a man and two women] is the confusion between “testimony” and “witnessing” that this noble verse speaks of.

The testimony that the judiciary relies on to discover justice based on evidence, and extract it from the folds of the opponents’ claims, does not take masculinity or femininity as a criterion for its truthfulness or falsehood, and thus its acceptance or rejection. Rather, its criterion is the judge’s assurance of the truthfulness of the testimony regardless of the gender of the witness, whether male or female, and regardless of the number of witnesses. If the judge’s conscience is assured of the appearance of evidence, he should rely on the testimony of two men, or two women, or a man and a woman, or a man and two women, or a woman and two men, or one man or one woman. There is no effect of masculinity or femininity in the testimony that the judiciary rules on based on the evidence presented to it.

And bring to witness two witnesses from among your men. But if there are not two men, then a man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses - so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her. — Al-Baqarah: 282

The verse of Surat Al-Baqarah is talking about something other than “testimony” before the court. It is talking about the “witnessing” that the debtor does to ensure that his debt is preserved, and not about the “testimony” that the judge relies on in his ruling between the disputing parties. It is directed to the owner of the right to the debt and not to the judge ruling in the dispute.

• A debt for a specified term
• It must be written down
• The writer must be just
• It is forbidden for the writer to refuse to write
• It is necessary for the one who has the right to dictate
• If he is unable to do so, then his guardian should dictate fairly
• The witnessing must be from two men from the believers, or a man and two women from the believers
• The witnesses must be from those whom the community approves of
• It is not valid for the witnesses to refuse to testify
• These conditions are not required in present trade, nor in sales

Among these scholars and jurists who understood this fact and elaborated on it:

• Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah [661–728 AH / 1263–1328 CE]
• His student Ibn al-Qayyim [691–751 AH / 1292–1350 CE]
• Imam Sheikh Muhammad Abduh [1265–1323 AH]
• Imam Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltut [1310–1383 AH / 1893–1963 CE]

“Evidence in Islamic law is the name for that which clarifies and reveals the truth. Sometimes it is four witnesses, sometimes three, as stated in the evidence of the bankrupt. Sometimes it is two witnesses, one witness, and one woman. It may be a refusal, an oath, or fifty oaths or four oaths, and it may be the witness of the case.”

“The Qur’an did not mention two witnesses, a man and two women in the methods of ruling by which the ruler rules, but rather mentioned the two types of evidence in the methods by which a person preserves his right. God Almighty said: (O you who have believed, when you contract a debt for a specified term)… All of this is advice to them, and education and guidance for what preserves their rights, and what preserves rights is one thing and what the judge rules by is another.”

“I said [i.e. Ibn al-Qayyim]: There is nothing in the Qur’an that requires that a judgment should not be made except with two witnesses, or a witness and two women, for God Almighty only ordered those with rights to preserve their rights with this quorum, and He did not order the judges to rule with it, let alone that He ordered them not to rule except with it. For this reason, the judge rules with refusal, the rejected oath, the single woman, women alone with no man with them, and with the knots of swaddling clothes, the faces of bricks, and other methods of ruling… The methods of ruling are one thing, and the methods of preserving rights are another thing, and there is no connection between them.” — [Al-Turuq Al-Hukmiyyah fi Al-Siyasah Al-Shari’ah] p. 198

• Refusal and the rejected oath
• Drawing lots according to the Book of Allah and the authentic Sunnah
• Fortune-telling (القافة — tracking resemblance)
• Standing (القسامة — neighborhood oaths)
• The witness of the situation (e.g. in household disputes)
• The presence of bricks in the wall (in construction disputes)
• The testimony of a single just man in matters other than prescribed punishments
• The testimony of a single woman in breastfeeding cases

“It is permissible for the ruler — the judge — to rule based on the testimony of one man if he knows his truthfulness in matters other than the limits, and God did not obligate the ruler to rule except with two witnesses originally, but rather He ordered the owner of the right to preserve his right with two witnesses, or with a witness and two women, and this does not indicate that the ruler does not rule with less than that.” — [Al-Turuq Al-Hukmiyyah] pp. 98, 113, 123

The testimony of a just woman is accepted in matters that men do not know about, such as breastfeeding, childbirth, menstruation, waiting period, and the like. We do not know of any disagreement among scholars regarding the acceptance of the testimony of women alone in general.

1. Childbirth
2. The first cry (proof of life at birth)
3. Breastfeeding
4. Defects under the garment such as patches, horns, virginity, puberty, and leprosy
5. The expiration of the waiting period

Ibn Abidin’s commentary states: “One free Muslim woman is accepted in matters of virginity, women’s defects, and things that men cannot see, and two is more cautious.”

Wahbi Sulayman Ghawji al-Albani says: “As for matters related to women, a woman’s testimony is acceptable, and her testimony alone is sufficient, as the testimony of a man alone is not accepted.”

Ibn al-Qayyim commented: “This is the acceptance of the testimony of one woman, even if she is a slave, and her testimony is about her own actions.”

• It was narrated from Ata’ [27–114 AH] that he permitted the testimony of women in matters of marriage
• It was narrated from Shuraih [78 AH] that he permitted the testimony of women in matters of divorce
• Abu Hanifa said: The testimony of a midwife alone is permissible, even if she is Jewish or Christian

Moreover, the testimony of a man was never accepted “alone” even in the most trivial financial cases. However, a woman was given the advantage over a man in that her testimony was heard “alone”, without a man, in what is more serious than testimony on trivial matters, as is evident in the testimony on birth and what is related to it in terms of lineage and inheritance, while the testimony of a man was not accepted “alone” in the most trivial financial cases. This is an eloquent response to those who accuse Islam of discriminating between men and women in testimony.

Muhammad Sa’id Ramadan al-Buti said: “On the contrary, the testimony of a woman in matters of breastfeeding, custody, lineage, and the like, the legal priority in it is for the testimony of a woman, since she is more connected to these issues than a man. Rather, it was narrated from al-Sha’bi that he said: There are testimonies in which only the testimony of women is permissible.”

The option of annulment is established for each of the spouses due to a defect he finds in the other… If they differ about the defects of women, trustworthy women are shown and the statement of one woman is accepted in it. If she testifies to what the husband said, otherwise the woman’s statement is accepted.

Mustafa Al-Zarqa stated: “The testimony of a woman alone is accepted in some cases, which are: if the event that the woman will testify to occurs in a place where there are no men, such as women’s bathrooms… So the testimony of women alone is accepted in crimes that occur in their bathrooms.”

Do you know that the testimony of a woman alone is accepted regarding the crescent of Ramadan, just like that of a man?

“So that if one of them errs, the other can remind her.” — Al-Baqarah: 282

The criterion here in testimony is experience and justice, and the criterion is not the gender of the witness, whether male or female. In professions such as medicine, veterinary medicine, and translation before the judge, the criterion is “the knowledge of the people of experience.”

The first is the justice and control of the witness…

The second is that it is between the witness and the incident to which he testifies a connection that qualifies him to be aware of it and testify about it…

Finally, we say: If femininity and masculinity played a role in the value of testimony and the extent of its legitimacy, then the woman’s testimony would be superior in the matter of cursing. But the reality is that they are equal… Allah has made the value of the four testimonies that prove adultery equivalent to the value of the four testimonies that deny it. This confirms that femininity and masculinity in and of themselves have no role in the value of testimony.”

“Islamic law has tended to strengthen the testimony in financial cases in an absolute manner with the testimony of another man, in addition to the first man, so that the testimony is not subject to accusation. No one considered the halving of a man’s testimony here and strengthening it with the testimony of another man to be an attack on his dignity, as long as that strengthening is more guaranteeing of people’s rights.”

“God Almighty’s statement: (But if there are not two men, then a man and two women from among those whom you accept as witnesses, so that she may err — one of them, so one of them reminds the other) — this is evidence that the testimony of two women in place of one man is only for one of them to remind the other, if she goes astray, and this only happens in what usually leads to error, which is forgetfulness and lack of control. So what was from the testimonies in which error is not usually feared, it was not in it half as much as the man.” — [I’lam Al-Muwaqqi’in] vol. 1, pp. 90–92

“The just woman is like the man in truthfulness, honesty, and religion, except that when she is feared to be forgetful, she is strengthened by her like, and that may make her stronger than one man or his like.”

Even in witnessing, the debtor may preserve his debt according to the advice and guidance of the verse of Surat Al-Baqarah by having a man and a woman, or two women, witness, when the woman has experience in the subject of witnessing. In this witnessing, her testimony is not always half that of a man.

The intended meaning is that the Lawgiver did not stop the ruling in preserving rights at all on the testimony of two males, neither in blood, nor in money, nor in private parts, nor in the limits. The secret of the matter is that the command to have polygamy in the aspect of tolerance and preserving rights does not necessitate the command to have polygamy in the aspect of ruling and proof. The Shari’ah never comes to reject a true report.”

“The commentators spoke about this and attributed its cause to temperament, saying: Women’s temperament is affected by coldness, followed by forgetfulness. This is not true, and the correct reason is that women are not meant to be busy in financial transactions and similar transactions, therefore her memory is weak, and it is not like that in domestic matters which are her concern, for she has a stronger memory than a man, meaning that it is the nature of human beings, males and females, to have a strong memory for matters which concern them and to be more occupied with them.” — [The Complete Works of Imam Muhammad Abduh] Vol. 4, p. 732

This is what Imam Muhammad Abduh mentioned when he attributed the distinction of men’s testimony on this right that the verse spoke about over women’s testimony to the fact that women at that time were far from attending business meetings, and thus far from acquiring endurance and experience in these fields. This is a historical reality subject to development and change, and is not the nature or disposition of women throughout the ages.

The situation is one of ensuring rights, not of judging them. The verse guides to the best types of assurance that will reassure the souls of those dealing with them about their rights.

This does not mean that the testimony of a single woman or the testimony of women who do not have a man with them does not establish the right, and the judge does not rule on it, because the most that the judiciary requires is “evidence.”

“The consideration of two women in the matter of verification as one man is not due to the weakness of their minds, which follows and is an effect of their lack of humanity, but rather because, as Sheikh Muhammad Abduh said, ‘women are not meant to be occupied with financial transactions and similar transactions, and hence their memory is weak in them, and they are not like that in the household matters that are their occupation, for in them their memory is stronger than that of men, and it is the nature of human beings in general to have a strong memory for the matters that concern them and that they practice.’”

“If the verse guides to the most complete aspects of verification, and the dealers are in an environment in which women are mostly occupied with sales and attending councils of debts, then they have the right to verify the woman in the same way as verifying the man, as long as they are assured that she remembers and does not forget, in the same way that men remember and do not forget.” — [Islam, Creed and Law] pp. 239–241

And those who accuse their wives and have no witnesses except themselves — the testimony of one of them is four testimonies by Allah that he is of the truthful. And the fifth is that the curse of Allah is upon him if he is of the liars. And the punishment is averted from her if she bears witness four times by Allah that he is of the liars. And the fifth is that the wrath of Allah is upon her if he is of the truthful. — An-Nur: 6–9

Four testimonies from a man, followed by invoking God’s curse upon him if he is lying, and it is met and nullified by four testimonies from a woman, followed by invoking God’s wrath upon her if he is truthful. This is the justice of Islam in distributing public rights between men and women, and it is a justice that ensures that they are equal in humanity.

The prophetic hadith that a woman narrated to us from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has the same authority as the hadith narrated by a man. No one rejected the statement of a woman simply because she was a woman.

“It was not reported from any of the scholars that he rejected the report of a woman because she was a woman. How many Sunnahs did the nation accept from a single woman from the Companions, and this is not denied by anyone who has the slightest share of knowledge of the Sunnah.”

“The Lawgiver ﷺ never rejected the report of a just man, neither in a narration nor in a testimony, but rather he accepted the report of a single just man in every place he reported it… and he accepted the testimony of a black slave woman alone regarding breastfeeding.”

Women are like men in this testimony to the message of the Sharia and the narration of the Prophetic Sunnah. Women are like men in “narrating the hadith,” which is testimony to the Messenger of God ﷺ. If this is something that the nation has agreed upon, and the narrators of the Prophetic hadith have practiced it generation after generation, “and narration is testimony,” then how can testimony from a woman be accepted against the Messenger of God ﷺ, but not against any other person? The just woman is like a man in truthfulness, honesty, and religion. — [Al-Turuq Al-Hukmiyyah] pp. 236, 244

Marouf Al-Dawalibi says: “Islam has made financial cases easier for women, and made the testimony of two women equal to the testimony of one man, so that people would turn away from calling on her to testify, and would give preference to the testimony of the man… So dividing the testimony of a woman in financial cases was not dividing a right, but rather reducing the burden.”

And do not conceal testimony. And whoever conceals it — indeed, his heart is sinful. — Al-Baqarah: 283

“Performing testimony is not a privilege or a right in Islam, but rather it is a duty for which the witness bears hardship and difficulty, and therefore we see many people who hate being called by the judge or opponents to testify, especially in criminal and hudud cases, because they are exposed to interrogation by opponents, and their justice is challenged… And let us not forget that the Sharia — in some types of hudud such as adultery — requires flogging witnesses if their testimony is not sufficient to prove the charge against the accused.”

And establish the testimony for Allah — meaning: purely for His sake, that is, they establish it not for the one for whom they testify, nor the one against whom they testify, nor for any other purpose, other than establishing the truth and repelling injustice. The verse indicates the prohibition of taking payment for giving testimony.

He said to a man: “Do you see the sun?! The man said: Yes. The Prophet said: Testify to something like it or leave it.”

“God and His Messenger have never established a ruling that is proven false by the senses or reason, so far be it from His rulings, glory be to Him, for there is no better judge than Him, glory be to Him, nor more just. He does not issue a ruling that reason says: I wish he had ruled otherwise. Rather, all of His rulings are what reason and nature testify to as being good, and that they occur in the most perfect and best ways, and that nothing else is suitable in their place.” — [Al-Turuq Al-Hukmiyyah] p. 329