The Bedouin’s Testimony Against the Villager and Verifying His Integrity
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, if a Bedouin comes forward to testify against a villager, is the judge required to investigate and verify his integrity, and to refrain from discrediting the Bedouin?
Answer:
No, the hadith indicates that it is not accepted at all; the testimony of a Bedouin against a town dweller is not accepted, according to what the hadith indicates, unless this Bedouin is known for his trustworthiness and known for his truthfulness. In that case, his testimony is accepted. If this is known, we do not say that the default is integrity; we say the default is integrity, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited accepting the testimony of a Bedouin against a villager. So the default is not integrity, but if we know that he is upright, then we accept him.
Honorable Shaykh, if a Bedouin comes forward to testify against a villager, is the judge required to investigate and verify his integrity, and to refrain from discrediting the Bedouin?
Answer:
No, the hadith indicates that it is not accepted at all; the testimony of a Bedouin against a town dweller is not accepted, according to what the hadith indicates, unless this Bedouin is known for his trustworthiness and known for his truthfulness. In that case, his testimony is accepted. If this is known, we do not say that the default is integrity; we say the default is integrity, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited accepting the testimony of a Bedouin against a villager. So the default is not integrity, but if we know that he is upright, then we accept him.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب الشهادات — islamhouse.com (34:48)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.