1222 – Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that “the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ruled on the basis of an oath and a single witness.” Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, and al-Nasāʾī transmitted it, and the latter said: “Its chain of transmission is sound.” (1)
A similar report comes from Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him); it was recorded by Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī, and Ibn Ḥibbān declared it authentic. (2)
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Hadith grading:
The narration of Abū Hurayrah was judged ṣaḥīḥ by Ibn Ḥibbān, Abū Ḥātim, and Abū Zurʿah, and al-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan. It has two additional chains of transmission. Imām Aḥmad said, “No hadith in this chapter is more authentic than this one.” All its transmitters are those of the two Ṣaḥīḥs, and al-Suyūṭī and al-Kattānī classified it as mutawātir.
Points derived from the hadith:
- The vast majority of scholars—including the three imams Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad—hold that a judgment may be rendered on the basis of a single witness together with the claimant’s oath. Muslim (1712) narrated through ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that “the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ruled on the basis of one witness and an oath.”
Al-Shāfiʿī said: “The hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās is firmly established, and it is supported by corroborating evidence.”
Ibn al-Qayyim stated in al-Ṭuruq al-Ḥukmiyyah: “Rulings based on a single witness together with an oath have been transmitted …”