as their testimony has no entry into it, just like the hadd punishments and retaliation. What they mentioned is not valid; for doubt has no entry into marriage, and even if it were imagined that the woman might be suspicious of pregnancy, the marriage would not be valid.
Section: It has been narrated from Ahmad, may Allah be pleased with him, regarding insolvency (i'sar), that which indicates that it is not established except by three [witnesses], based on the hadith of Qabisah ibn al-Mukhariq: "Until three men of intellect from his people testify that a calamity has befallen such-and-such a person." Ahmad said: "Thus the hadith has come." The manifest meaning of this is that he adopted it. It is also narrated from him that the statement of one claiming that he made a bequest (wasiyya) is not accepted until two men, or a just man, testify for him. The manifest meaning of this is that the testimony of a single man is accepted in a bequest. Regarding a man who makes a bequest when only women are present, he said: "I allow the testimony of women." The manifest meaning of this is that he established the bequest by the testimony of women alone, if men are not present. The Qadi said: The [standard] school position is that none of this is established except by two witnesses, and the hadith of Qabisah relates to the settlement of the issue, not to insolvency.
Section: Neither of these two types is established by one witness and the oath of the claimant; because if it is not established by the testimony of one man and two women, it is even less likely to be established by the testimony of one [person] and an oath. Ahmad and Malik said regarding the [combination of a] witness and an oath: This applies specifically to financial matters; it does not occur in a hadd punishment, marriage, divorce, emancipation, theft, or homicide. Al-Khiraqi said: If a slave claims that his master emancipated him and brings one witness, he shall swear [an oath] along with his witness and become free. Ahmad explicitly stated this. He also said regarding two partners in a slave, where each of them claims that his partner emancipated his share of him, and they are both insolvent and just: The slave may swear an oath with each of them and become free, or swear with one of them and half of him becomes free. Similar to this is derived in the cases of kitaba (contract of manumission), wala' (patronage), bequest, deposit, and agency; so there are two narrations for all of these, except for corporal punishments, marriage, and its rights, for they are not established by a witness and an oath according to a single view. The Qadi said: The relied-upon position in everything we have mentioned is that it is not established except by two witnesses. This is the position of al-Shafi'i. Al-Daraqutni narrated with his chain of authority from Abu Salama, from Abu
(5) Its verification has been mentioned previously in: 4/119. (6) Omitted from: Al-Asl. (7) We did not find it in the Sunan of al-Daraqutni, and al-Suyuti attributed it to Abu Nu'aym, Ibn Mandah in al-Ma'rifa, and al-Daylami. Al-Jami' al-Kabir 1/105.