Chapter: Testifying to Testimony

According to Mālik, secondary testimony—that is, attesting to the testimony of another—is permissible in cases of ḥudūd (prescribed penalties), qiṣāṣ (retaliatory punishment), bodily injuries, manumission, marriage, divorce, property, and every other right. No one may offer such secondary testimony before the judge on behalf of a witness who is present in the same town, whose circumstances are easily ascertainable, or who is in sound health; it is given only in place of a witness who has died, is absent, or is ill. The legal ruling governing secondary testimony is that there must testify