or has died; in that case his master may take the oath on his behalf.

If someone appoints a free man, a slave, a woman, or a dhimmī to settle a debt he owes, and the agent discharges it for him on the strength of a single witness, yet the creditor denies having received anything, each of them must swear together with his witness; once they do so, both the agent and the principal are exonerated.

In every matter that is judged by the testimony of one witness together with an oath, the same ruling applies when the witness is present and the opponent refuses to swear.

A person who suffers an accidental head-wound swears with his witness and becomes entitled to the indemnity for his injury, and the same rule holds for a master with respect to an injury sustained by his slave.

Some have said that he may also swear with his witness in cases of intentional wounding and thereby obtain retaliation, but this opinion is weak, for the provision allowing an oath alongside a single witness was revealed only for financial claims. Allah knows best.

If a single witness testifies that someone has slandered another with unchastity, I oblige the accused to swear; if he swears, he is cleared. Should the claimant have no witness at all, Mālik holds that an oath is not required of the defendant on the basis of a mere allegation. Mālik also said: the same Sunnah applies to a woman’s claim of divorce and to a slave’s claim of emancipation.