Chapters On Witnesses

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Al-Anṣārī narrated to us: Maʿn narrated to us: Mālik narrated to us, from ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Bakr ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm, from his father, from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān, from Abū ʿAmrah al-Anṣārī, from Zayd ibn Khālid al-Juhanī, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Shall I tell you who is the best of witnesses? The one who offers his testimony before being asked for it.'

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan narrated to us: ʿAbdullāh ibn Maslamah narrated to us, from Mālik, with a similar report; he said 'Ibn Abī ʿAmrah.' He said: 'This hadith is ḥasan.' Most people identify him as ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmrah. There is disagreement among Mālik's transmitters over this report: some narrate it from Abū ʿAmrah, while others narrate it from Ibn Abī ʿAmrah, who is ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmrah al-Anṣārī. The latter is more accurate, because it has also been narrated outside Mālik's route from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmrah, from Zayd ibn Khālid. Another sound hadith has also been narrated from Ibn Abī ʿAmrah, from Zayd ibn Khālid. Abū ʿAmrah was the client of Zayd ibn Khālid al-Juhanī, and he has a report about misappropriation. Most people identify the narrator as ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmrah.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Bishr ibn Adam, grandson of Azhar al-Samman, narrated to us: Zayd ibn al-Hubab narrated to us: Ubayy ibn Abbas ibn Sahl ibn Sad narrated to us: Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Amr ibn Hazm narrated to me: Abd Allah ibn Amr ibn Uthman narrated to me: Kharijah ibn Zayd ibn Thabit narrated to me: Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Amrah narrated to me: Zayd ibn Khalid al-Juhani narrated to me that he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: The best of witnesses is the one who delivers his testimony before being asked for it. He said: This hadith is hasan gharib through this chain.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Qutaybah narrated to us: Marwān ibn Muʿāwiyah al-Fazārī narrated to us, from Yazīd ibn Ziyād al-Dimashqī, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah, who said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'The testimony of a treacherous man or woman is not admissible, nor that of a man or woman punished with a legal penalty, nor that of one who harbors ill will against his brother, nor a person whose testimony has been tried [and found unreliable], nor a dependent who favors the household, nor one suspected because of an alliance or kinship.' Al-Fazārī said: 'Al-qāniʿ means a follower.' He said: 'This hadith is gharīb; we know it only through Yazīd ibn Ziyād al-Dimashqī, who is considered weak in hadith. This report from al-Zuhrī is known only through him. A report on this subject is also related from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr. I do not know what this hadith means, and its chain is not sound in my view.' Scholars generally permit a relative's testimony for another relative. They differed about a parent testifying for a child and a child for a parent: most did not permit either, while some permitted it if the parent or child was upright. They did not differ about a brother testifying for his brother; likewise, any relative may testify for a relative. Al-Shāfiʿī said that a man's testimony against another is not admissible if there is enmity between them, even if he is upright. He relied on a mursal report from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Aʿraj: 'The testimony of one harboring rancor is not admissible'—that is, one harboring enmity. This is likewise the meaning here of 'one who harbors ill will against his brother.'

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Aḥmad ibn Manīʿ narrated to us: Marwān ibn Muʿāwiyah narrated to us, from Sufyān ibn Ziyād al-Asadī, from Fātik ibn Faḍālah, from Ayman ibn Khuraym, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood to deliver a sermon and said: 'O people, false testimony has been equated with associating partners with Allah.' Then the Messenger of Allah recited: 'So shun the defilement of idols and shun false speech' (Quran 22:30). Abū ʿĪsā said: 'This hadith is gharīb; we know it only through Sufyān ibn Ziyād. They differed in transmitting it from him. We do not know of Ayman ibn Khuraym having heard directly from the Prophet.'

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd narrated to us: Sufyān—namely, Ibn Ziyād al-ʿUṣfurī—narrated to us from his father, from Ḥabīb ibn al-Nuʿmān al-Asadī, from Khuraym ibn Fātik al-Asadī, that after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had prayed the dawn prayer, he stood and said: 'False testimony has been equated with associating partners with Allah'—three times. Then he recited the verse, 'So shun false speech,' to its end. Abū ʿĪsā said: 'This version is more sound. Khuraym ibn Fātik was a Companion; he narrated hadiths from the Prophet and is well known.'

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Ḥumayd ibn Masʿadah narrated to us: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal narrated to us, from al-Jurayrī, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakrah, from his father, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Shall I tell you about the greatest of the major sins?' They said: 'Yes, Messenger of Allah.' He said: 'Associating partners with Allah, mistreating one's parents, and false testimony'—or he said, 'false speech.' He kept repeating it until we said to ourselves, 'If only he would stop.' Abū ʿĪsā said: 'This hadith is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.' A report on this subject is also related from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr.

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Wāṣil ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from ʿAlī ibn Mudrik, from Hilāl ibn Yasāf, from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: 'The best of people are my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them, then those who follow them'—three times. 'Then people will come after them who grow corpulent and love corpulence; they will offer their testimony before being asked for it.' Abū ʿĪsā said: 'This report is gharīb through al-Aʿmash from ʿAlī ibn Mudrik. Al-Aʿmash's companions transmitted it only from al-Aʿmash, from Hilāl ibn Yasāf, from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn.'

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

Abu Ammar al-Husayn ibn Hurayth narrated to us: Waki narrated to us, from al-Amash—Hilal ibn Yasaf narrated to us—from Imran ibn Husayn, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), with a report like the preceding one. This version is more sound than the report of Muhammad ibn Fudayl. Some scholars interpret the statement about offering testimony before being asked to mean false testimony: a person bears witness without being called upon. The explanation appears in the following hadith. [The Arabic source block itself ends at this point.]

Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.

A report from Umar ibn al-Khattab, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), says: 'The best of people are my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them. Then lying will become widespread: a man will testify though he was not asked to, and a man will swear an oath though he was not asked to.' The meaning of the Prophet's statement, 'The best of witnesses is the one who brings his testimony before being asked for it,' is, in our view, that when a man has been called to witness something, he should deliver his testimony and not withhold it. This is how some scholars understand the report. The Book of Testimony is complete, praise be to Allah; the Book of Asceticism follows it.