Draft:Sharia Bayyina
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Sharia Bayyina refers to valid religious testimony (witnesses); such as two just men, or one just man and two just women, or four just women.[1] According to researchers, the primary meaning of bayyina in jurisprudence is two just men,[2] and the principle of its validity in Fiqh is established. However, jurists disagree on whether its validity extends to all subjects or is limited to cases specifically mentioned in narrations, such as litigation and disputes.[3] The majority of jurists believe that bayyina is authoritative in all Sharia matters.[4]
In the books of Tawdih al-Masa'il, it is stated that subjects such as the Sighting of the Crescent,[5] the Fatwa of a mujtahid,[6] ritual purity[7] and impurity of water,[8] the arrival of prayer time,[9] puberty,[10] Marriage,[11] Divorce,[12] and guardianship (wasaya),[13] can be proven via bayyina.
Justice and the dual number of witnesses (if they are men) are among the general conditions for the authority of bayyina; however, in cases such as zina and liwat, four witnesses are required.[14] Some jurists consider being male as a general condition for the authority of bayyina and accept the testimony of women only in subjects mentioned in the narrations; others state that the testimony of women is valid in all subjects, just like that of men, except where specifically excluded. According to this view, four women can testify instead of two men.[15]
In cases where the content of one bayyina contradicts another, a Conflict of Bayyina occurs.[16] The conflict of bayyina involves numerous conditions and rulings.[17] For instance, regarding a conflict of bayyina over property held by both parties of a dispute, according to the famous view among jurists, half of the property is granted to each; however, if the conflict is over property held by a third party, according to the famous view, the degree of justice of the witnesses and then their number should be the criterion, and if the witnesses were equal in justice and number, lots should be cast.[18]
The Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes the testimony of bayyina (witnesses) as valid,[19] and in Articles 1309 to 1320, it discusses the conditions of testifying and the witnesses.[20] According to this law, puberty, intellect, justice, faith, and purity of birth (being born legitimate) are among the conditions for witnesses.[21]
Notes
- ↑ Muʾassisih-yi Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Fiqh-i Islāmī, Farhang-i Fiqh, 1392 SH, vol. 2, p. 219.
- ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh wa iṣṭilāḥāt al-uṣūl, 1431 AH, p. 119.
- ↑ Muʾassisih-yi Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Fiqh-i Islāmī, Farhang-i Fiqh, 1392 SH, vol. 2, pp. 220-221.
- ↑ Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh wa iṣṭilāḥāt al-uṣūl, 1431 AH, pp. 119-120.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, 1420 AH, vol. 3, p. 628; Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), 1424 AH, vol. 1, p. 18.
- ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), 1424 AH, vol. 1, p. 18.
- ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), 1424 AH, vol. 1, p. 133.
- ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), 1424 AH, vol. 1, p. 85.
- ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), 1424 AH, vol. 1, p. 411.
- ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), 1424 AH, vol. 2, p. 376.
- ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), 1424 AH, vol. 2, p. 450.
- ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), 1424 AH, vol. 2, p. 522.
- ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), 1424 AH, vol. 2, p. 690.
- ↑ Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, 1409 AH, vol. 4, p. 941; Mūsawī Ardabīlī, Fiqh al-ḥudūd wa l-taʿzīrāt, 1427 AH, vol. 2, p. 23; Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), 1424 AH, vol. 2, p. 221.
- ↑ Imām Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), 1424 AH, vol. 2, p. 221.
- ↑ Muʾassisih-yi Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Fiqh-i Islāmī, Farhang-i Fiqh, 1392 SH, vol. 2, p. 222.
- ↑ Muʾassisih-yi Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Fiqh-i Islāmī, Farhang-i Fiqh, 1392 SH, vol. 2, p. 223.
- ↑ Muʾassisih-yi Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Fiqh-i Islāmī, Farhang-i Fiqh, 1392 SH, vol. 2, p. 223.
- ↑ Manṣūr, Qānūn-i Madanī, 1391 SH, pp. 230-233.
- ↑ Manṣūr, Qānūn-i Madanī, 1391 SH, pp. 230-233.
- ↑ Manṣūr, Qānūn-i Madanī, 1391 SH, p. 231.
References
- Ṭabarsī, Amīn al-Islām, Majmaʿ al-bayān, Beirut, Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī, 1415 AH/1995 CE.
- Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Jaʿfar b. Ḥasan, al-Sharāʾiʿ, edited by Sayyid Sadiq Shirazi, Tehran, Istiqlal Publishing, 1402 AH, second edition.
- Mishkīnī, Muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqh wa iṣṭilāḥāt al-uṣūl, Beirut, Manshurat al-Rida, first edition, 1431 AH.
- Mūsawī Ardabīlī, ʿAbd al-Karīm, Fiqh al-ḥudūd wa l-taʿzīrāt, publisher: Muʾassisat al-Nashr li-Jāmiʿat al-Mufīd (rh), Qom, 1427 AH, second edition.
- Mūsawī Khomeinī, Sayyid Rūḥ Allāh, Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā), edited by Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Bani Hashemi Khomeyni, Qom, Islamic Publishing Office, eighth edition, 1424 AH.
- Muʾassisih-yi Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Fiqh-i Islāmī, Farhang-i Fiqh muṭābiq-i madhhab-i Ahl-i Bayt (a), under the supervision of: Sayyid Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Qom, Muʾassisih-yi Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Fiqh-i Islāmī, 1392 SH.
- Manṣūr, Jahāngīr, Qānūn-i Madanī bā ākhirīn iṣlāḥiyyih-hā wa ilḥāqāt hamrāh bā qānūn-i masʾūliyyat-i madanī, Tehran, Didar Publishing, 1389 SH.