Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 2038
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى، حَدَّثَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ أَبُو حَفْصٍ التَّنِّيسِيُّ، عَنْ زُهَيْرٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ جُرَيْجٍ، عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ شُعَيْبٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ جَدِّهِ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " إِذَا ادَّعَتِ الْمَرْأَةُ طَلاَقَ زَوْجِهَا فَجَاءَتْ عَلَى ذَلِكَ بِشَاهِدٍ عَدْلٍ اسْتُحْلِفَ زَوْجُهَا فَإِنْ حَلَفَ بَطَلَتْ شَهَادَةُ الشَّاهِدِ وَإِنْ نَكَلَ فَنُكُولُهُ بِمَنْزِلَةِ شَاهِدٍ آخَرَ وَجَازَ طَلاَقُهُ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Muhammad ibn Yahya narrated to us: ʿAmr ibn Abi Salamah Abu Hafs al-Tinnisi narrated to us, from Zuhayr, from Ibn Jurayj, from ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, from his father, from his grandfather, from the Prophet, who said: ‘If a woman claims that her husband divorced her and produces one upright witness for it, her husband is to be put under oath. If he swears, the witness’s testimony is invalidated; but if he refuses to swear, his refusal counts as another witness, and his divorce is established.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
نَكَلَ is rendered as refusing to take the oath; the report treats that refusal as equivalent to an additional witness.
عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " إِذَا ادَّعَتِ الْمَرْأَةُ طَلاَقَ زَوْجِهَا فَجَاءَتْ عَلَى ذَلِكَ بِشَاهِدٍ عَدْلٍ اسْتُحْلِفَ زَوْجُهَا فَإِنْ حَلَفَ بَطَلَتْ شَهَادَةُ الشَّاهِدِ وَإِنْ نَكَلَ فَنُكُولُهُ بِمَنْزِلَةِ شَاهِدٍ آخَرَ وَجَازَ طَلاَقُهُ " .
The phrase فَنُكُولُهُ بِمَنْزِلَةِ شَاهِدٍ آخَرَ is a procedural formulation: the husband’s refusal to swear is treated as another witness.
Does ‘his refusal counts as another witness’ accurately express the procedural wording?