Among those who hold witnessing to be obligatory are some who require two witnesses whose uprightness is unverified, even though they accept testimony in court only from those known to be upright. This, too, fails to achieve the intended purpose. Some have taken the anomalous position of requiring witnesses known to be upright. This view is certainly unsound, for Muslims have not observed such a requirement in their marriages.

These three positions exist within Ahmad’s school, on the view that he requires witnesses. One holds that two openly sinful witnesses suffice, as Abū Hanīfah maintains. Another holds that two witnesses whose uprightness is unverified suffice; this is the well-known position in Ahmad’s school and that of al-Shāfiʿī. A further position within the school requires witnesses known to be upright. It has also been said that, if a judge concludes the marriage contract, he must use witnesses known to be upright, unlike anyone else who concludes it, since judges are the ones who distinguish those of established uprightness from those whose uprightness is unverified.

Moreover, requiring their uprightness to be known to the local judge contradicts the Muslims’ consensus, past and present: they conclude marriages among themselves while the judge lives among them yet does not know them. If, instead, they require witnesses renowned among their community for goodness, having such a reputation is not a condition for a witness to be upright and his testimony admissible.

Furthermore, witnesses die and their circumstances change. Yet these scholars say: “The purpose of witnessing is to establish the marital relationship when it is disputed, safeguarding the child’s lineage.”

The response is that this is achieved by publicly announcing the marriage, whereas having witnesses while keeping it secret does not achieve it at all. What admits of no doubt is that a publicly announced marriage is valid even if two witnesses did not witness it. As for a marriage kept secret but witnessed, that requires examination. When both witnessing and public announcement are present, its validity is undisputed.

If there is neither witnessing nor public announcement, the marriage is invalid according to scholars generally. If any disagreement on this is supposed to exist,