a bequest involving it, emancipation, kitāba, tadbīr, and the like: the testimony of two men, or one man and two women, or one man together with the claimant’s oath, is sufficient.

For matters to which men ordinarily have no access—such as defects in women hidden beneath their clothing, virginity, menstruation, childbirth, nursing, the newborn’s first cry (istihlal) (1), or an injury sustained in a bathhouse or at a wedding—the testimony of a single upright woman is accepted, although a male witness would be preferable.

If one man and two women testify to theft, the property is restored but the hadd of amputation is not carried out. In a khulʿ case, their testimony establishes the compensation, and the woman becomes irrevocably separated on his claim.

Section
(On testimony upon testimony)

Secondary testimony is accepted only in matters concerning human rights, and then only when the original witnesses are unable to appear because of death, illness, or absence beyond the distance at which the prayer may be shortened, and when a primary witness has commissioned him by saying, “Bear witness to my testimony regarding such-and-such,” or words to that effect. Lacking such commissioning, it is inadmissible unless he heard the original testimony delivered before a judge or can trace it to a specific cause, such as a loan.

He must deliver the testimony in precisely the form in which he received it. If witnesses in a property case retract after judgment, the ruling is not overturned; they must pay the amount adjudged, while those who certified their integrity are not liable. Should judgment have been passed on the basis of one witness plus the claimant’s oath, and that witness then retracts, he alone is responsible for the sum.

Testimony may be rendered in the words, “I gave testimony to such-and-such,” or “I now testify to it.” (2)