Women and the moon (2)

Saanei begins by noting that on this topic: "Women's testimony when it comes to sighting the moon", there is no Qur`anic verse used by any Shii or Sunni scholar when deriving the ruling about the lack of value to women's testimony. So the main discussion is on narrations from the Prophet or Imam. There are two groups of narrations:

1. Those that say that it is enough to have two just people, and there is no specific indication about whether the witness should be male or female.
2. Those that specifically say that only two just males are allowed as witnesses when it comes to sighting the crescent


Group 1 - No specific disregard for women's testimony when it comes to sighting the moon

1. A hadith whose chain of narration is authenticated, narrated from Mansur bin Hazim from Jafar al-Sadiq: "[Start] Fast[ing] when the crescent is sighted, and stop fasting when it is seen; if two satisfactory witnesses, testify [they have seen it] in front of you, then accept it because they have seen it" (Wasa-`il al-Shi'a, volume 10, Page 253, Book of Fasting, Chapters on the Rules of Month of Ramadan, Chapter 3, Hadith 8)

2. A narration from Zayd bin Shahham from Jafar al-Sadiq: "...Only if evidence of just people reaches you, if they witness that they have seen the crescent before that, then accept that day" (Wasa-`il al-Shi'a, volume 10, Page 262, Chapter 5, Hadith 4)

3. A narration from Muhammad bin Qays from Muhammad al-Baqir, who said: "if two witnensses testified to the Imam that they saw the crescent 30 days earlier, the Imam said that it was the end of fasting" (Wasa-`il al-Shi'a, volume 10, Page 275, Chapter 6, Hadith 1)

There are many others but I do not think it adds much to our discussion (if you would like references, please email me).

The common understanding by any rational person reading such narrations is that you can rely on a testimony if the person is "just" or "satisfactory".

Some may say that these narrations refer to men, but even in such cases the reason is not that they are men but they are just or satisfactory in their testimony, in which case women are not excluded.

But the thing that Saanei finds very important to point out is that: " 'Aalim" (scholar), " 'Aadil" (just person) and similar terms, are more general than masculine or feminine, and the importance of these terms are their meaning at their core i.e. a scholar is a scholar due to his knowledge; a just person is just due to his justice...etc., and this is not to do with their inherent masculinity in any sense.

Group 2 - Specific mention of women's testimony not counting when it comes to sighting the moon

This will obviously be the focus of the discussion and a few of them are:

1. A hadith whose chain of narration is authenticated, narrated from Halabi from Jafar al-Sadiq that Ali bin Abu Talib said: "I only allow two just men's testimony when concerning [sighting] the crescent" (Wasa-`il al-Shi'a, volume 10, Page 286, Chapter 11, Hadith 1)

2. A narration from Hammad bin Uthman from Jafar al-Sadiq from Ali bin Abu Talib: "The testimony of women is not accepted when it comes to the crescent; and only two just men's testimony is allowed" (Wasa-`il al-Shi'a, volume 10, Page 288, Chapter 6, Hadith 8)

3. A narration from Shu'ayb bin Ya'qub from Jafar al-Sadiq from his father, from Ali ibn Abu Talib: "I only allow two men's testimony when it comes to [testifying about] divorce and [seeing the] crescent" (Wasa-`il al-Shi'a, volume 10, Page 289, Chapter 6, Hadith 9)

4. A narration from Muhammad bin Muslim: 'He said: "the testimony of women is not allowed with regards to [sighting] the crescent, or when it comes to divorce" and I asked him about women - is their testimony [ever] accepted. He said: "yes, when it comes to determining virginity and after birth"'. (Wasa-`il al-Shi'a, volume 10, Page 289, Chapter 6, Hadith 9). Although this does not mention who it comes from, the nature of Muhammad bin Muslim is such that he always narrated from one of the Imams so that is not a problem here.

[I included this narration mainly to show how scholars sometimes accept narrations even when the Imam's name is not mentioned - normally they do not, but for specific people, who are known to only narrate from trustworthy people, they are accepted]

This should give an insight into the main narrations on this topic. In the next blog, we will discuss Saanei's critique.