from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Zayd ibn Thaʿlabah, and a number of other Companions. ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz even wrote to his governor in Kūfah: “Give judgment on the basis of a single witness together with an oath, for that is the Sunnah,” as recorded by al-Shāfiʿī in al-Umm (6/255).
- Imām Abū Ḥanīfah and his associates hold that the testimony of one witness accompanied by an oath is not admissible in any matter. Al-Jaṣṣāṣ said: “The Almighty’s words, ‘Call to witness two witnesses from among your men; and if two men are not available, then a man and two women from those you approve as witnesses’ (al-Baqarah 2:282), invalidate the position that allows a single witness and an oath. One may not settle for fewer than the number specified, for permitting less would contradict the Book. Nor may the stipulated number be set aside, because the verse requires that two conditions be met: the number and uprightness. It is therefore impermissible to dispense with either of them. This also precludes accepting the claimant’s oath and ruling for him on the strength of one witness, for that would be to judge without the caution and thoroughness Allah has commanded, and without removing suspicion and doubt. Indeed, accepting his oath would only increase suspicion, doubt, and accusation—all of which run contrary to the verse’s intent.”
Ibn al-Qayyim continues in al-Ṭuruq al-Ḥukmiyyah: “Al-Tirmidhī (1343), Ibn Mājah (2368), and Abū Dāwūd (3610) narrate from Abū Hurayrah that the Prophet ﷺ ruled on the basis of an oath and a witness. In Mālik’s mursal reports it is related that the Prophet ﷺ judged with an oath and a single witness. Abū al-Zinād ibn ʿĀmir said, ‘I was present when Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthmān passed judgment on the strength of one witness and an oath,’ as reported by al-Dāraquṭnī (4/215); and ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) applied the same ruling in Iraq.”
- Ibn al-Qayyim also said: “Al-Shāfiʿī stated that an oath together with a single witness does not conflict with the outward sense