Are the retracting witnesses liable to compensate the party who benefited from the judgment?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Judicial Rulings
Primary text
The opinion of the majority of scholars, including Malik, the Ahl ar-Ra'y (Hanafi school), and the Old position of Shafi'i, is that the retracting witnesses must compensate the party who benefited. The basis for this liability is that they wrongfully removed the plaintiff's property from their possession and created a barrier between the plaintiff and their property, thus obligating them to guarantee the loss, similar to the case where they testify to the manumission of a slave. Furthermore, they caused the loss of the right through their false testimony, necessitating their liability, just as in the case of witnesses to Qisas.
Supporting text
The New position of Shafi'i states that they are not liable to compensate anything unless they testified to the manumission (I'taq) of a slave, in which case they guarantee the value, because they did not directly destroy property or exercise unlawful control over it, meaning their testimony should be treated as if it were invalidated. However, the counter-argument establishes liability based on the analogy of the manumission case and the principle that they caused the loss of right by their false testimony.