Chapter on Testimony
The term shahada (testimony) is derived from mushahada (direct witnessing), because the witness relates what he has seen and come to know.

Is it required, when giving testimony, to pronounce the formula “ashhadu” (“I testify”) or “shahidtu” (“I have testified”)? This is the well-known position in the Hanbali school. A second view—reported from Ahmad and held by a number of other jurists—states that such wording is not obligatory, and this was the opinion preferred by Shaykh Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah, his disciple Ibn al-Qayyim, and others.

Ibn Taymiyyah said, “The validity of testimony is not conditioned upon the word ‘ashhadu’; this follows from the statements of Ahmad and others. I know of no scriptural proof to the contrary, nor is it reported from any Companion or Successor that they required that specific wording.”

Ibn al-Qayyim said, “According to the soundest view—and it is the opinion of the majority—mere information (ikhbar) is pure testimony. It is not necessary for a witness to say ‘ashhadu’ for his testimony to be valid; whenever he says, ‘I saw such-and-such,’ or ‘I heard…,’ or the like, that counts as his testimony. There is not a single passage in the Book of Allah or in the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that indicates…"