or who had waylaid him along the road; as they say, “Whoever delights in another person’s distress or is grieved by his happiness is his enemy.”

Section
Only four witnesses are accepted in cases of illicit sexual intercourse (zinā) or a confession to it, whereas for bestiality the testimony of two men suffices.

For the other prescribed penalties (ḥudūd), for retribution in kind (qiṣāṣ), and for matters that are neither punishments nor property-related nor aimed at acquiring property—matters that men ordinarily witness, such as marriage, divorce, revocation of divorce, khulʿ (compensated divorce), lineage, manumission ties (walāʾ), and the appointment of an executor—the required testimony is that of two men.1

In financial dealings and whatever is intended to secure property—sales, deferred payments, options, and the like—the ruling may rest on the testimony of two men, or one man together with two women, or one man together with the claimant’s oath.

Matters that men normally cannot observe—defects concealed beneath women’s clothing, virginity or loss thereof, menstruation, childbirth, breastfeeding, the first cry of a newborn, and similar issues—are established by the testimony of one upright woman.2 In such cases a single man’s testimony is equal to that of a single woman.

Whoever produces one man and two women, or a single witness together with an oath, in a case that calls for retaliation establishes neither retaliation nor a financial award thereby. If such evidence is presented in a theft case, the stolen property is restored but the hand is not amputated.3 If it is presented in a khulʿ case, the compensation is awarded and the irrevocable separation is effected merely…4