What are the evidentiary requirements for non-punitive matters such as marriage, divorce, and lineage?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Testimonies
Primary text
For matters that are not corporal punishments, such as marriage, revocation (*ruj'ah*), divorce, manumission (*'itaq*), *Ila'* (vow of abstinence), *Zihar* (a form of divorce), lineage, agency (*tawkeel*), bequest (*wasiyyah*), patronage (*wala'*), and contracts of writing (*kitabah*), the established ruling in the school is that they are not established except by two male witnesses; the testimony of women is never accepted. Ahmad explicitly stated that female testimony is not permissible in marriage and divorce.
Supporting text
Regarding agency concerning debt claims, one narration from Ahmad permits the testimony of one man and two women, as the purpose is financial, akin to transfer of debt (*hawalah*). For marriage and its adjuncts, this is universally rejected. For other agency matters, there are two narrations. One narration accepts only two male witnesses, a view held by al-Nakha'i, al-Zuhri, Malik, the people of Medina, and al-Shafi'i. The second narration accepts one man and two women, narrated from Jabir ibn Zayd, Iyas ibn Mu'awiyah, al-Sha'bi, al-Thawri, Ishaq, and the companions of the school of thought. The latter group justifies this by noting that such matters are not waived by doubt, similar to financial matters, but the counter-argument is that they do not concern money and are not ones where the presence of men is required, unlike penal matters.