Chapter: The Testimony of Minors

The testimony of minors is admissible with respect to wounds they inflict upon one another, provided the witnesses are free males. Some jurists have argued that their testimony should also be received in cases of homicide, holding that, among minors themselves, a life and what is less than a life are treated alike in this regard. The settled Mālikī ruling, however, is that their testimony is confined to wounds only.

The testimony of female minors or of minors who are slaves is not accepted. It has been said that the testimony of two girls accompanied by one boy may be admitted in cases of accidental injury or accidental killing, yet the primary position of the school rejects this.

Even the testimony of free male minors is taken only when no adult witnesses are present, for once adult men are available there is no need to rely on children. Their testimony is limited to wounds and lacerations, and only so long as they have not dispersed, been tampered with, or contradicted one another. For example, if two boys testify that a certain boy gashed another, while two others testify that a different boy inflicted that very same wound, their statements are deemed conflicting. Should they disperse, their testimony is inadmissible unless upright adult men have heard and can attest to what they said before separating.

Their testimony is not accepted concerning an adult man who wounds a boy, nor concerning a boy who wounds an adult man.

If six boys were to gather and drown one of their number so that he died, and two of them testified against three that they drowned him, and