Meaning: and the witnessed · Also translated as: testimony, and the seen, a testimony, testimonies
Forms in the Quran
وَٱلشَّهَٰدَةِ×10
شَهَٰدَةً×5
ٱلشَّهَٰدَةَ×2
شَهَٰدَٰتٍۭ×2
لِلشَّهَٰدَةِ×1
لَشَهَٰدَتُنَآ×1
شَهَٰدَتِهِمَا×1
بِٱلشَّهَٰدَةِ×1
Its root in the classical dictionaries
الشهود والشهادة: الحضور مع المشاهدة، إما بالبصر، أو بالبصيرة، وقد يقال للحضور مفردا قال الله تعالى: عالم الغيب والشهادة [السجدة/ 6] ، لكن الشهود بالحضور المجرد أولى، والشهادة مع المشاهدة أولى، ويقال للمحضر: مشهد، وللمرأة التي يحضرها زوجها: مشهد، وجمع مشهد: مشاهد، ومنه:
قوله تعالى: ﴿عالم الغيب والشهادة﴾ [الأنعام: 73]. الشهادة والشهود: حضور مع مشاهدة. وذلك إما بالبصر، وإما بالبصيرة. والأول تتعلق به الأحكام الظاهرة، وأما الثاني فالشرع بالنسبة إلى الأحكام الظاهرة لم يعتبره. وقد يقال للحضور مفردا، إلا أن الشهود بالحضور المجرد أولى والشهادة مع الشهادة. وقد يقال للمحضر: مشهد، وللمرأة بحضرة…
Or do ye say that
Abraham, Ismā'īl, Isaac,
Jacob and the Tribes were
Jews or Christians?
Say: Do ye know better
Than God? Ah! who
Is more unjust than those
Who conceal the testimony
They have from God?
But God is not unmindful
Of what ye do!
O ye who believe!
When ye deal with each other,
In transactions involving
Future obligations
In a fixed period of time,
Reduce them to writing
Let a scribe write down
Faithfully as between
The parties: let not the scribe
Refuse to write: as God
Has taught him,
So let him write.
Let him who incurs
The liability dictate,
But let him fear
His Lord God,
And not diminish
Aught of what he owes.
If the party liable
Is mentally deficient,
Or weak, or unable
Himself to dictate,
Let his guardian
Dictate faithfully.
And get two witnesses,
Out of your own men,
And if there are not two men,
Then a man and two women,
Such as ye choose,
For witnesses,
So that if one of them errs,
The other can remind her.
The witnesses
Should not refuse
When they are called on
(For evidence).
Disdain not to reduce
To writing (your contract)
For a future period,
Whether it be small
Or big: it is juster
In the sight of God,
More suitable as evidence,
And more convenient
To prevent doubts
Among yourselves
But if it be a transaction
Which ye carry out
On the spot among yourselves,
There is no blame on you
If ye reduce it not
To writing.
But take witnesses
Whenever ye make
A commercial contract;
And let neither scribe
Nor witness suffer harm.
If ye do (such harm),
It would be wickedness
In you. So fear God;
For it is God
That teaches you.
And God is well acquainted
With all things.
If ye are on a journey,
And cannot find
A scribe, a pledge
With possession (may serve
The purpose).
And if one of you
Deposits a thing
On trust with another,
Let the trustee
(Faithfully) discharge
His trust, and let him
Fear his Lord.
Conceal not evidence;
For whoever conceals it,—
His heart is tainted
With sin. And God
Knoweth all that ye do.
O ye who believe!
When death approaches
Any of you, (take) witnesses
Among yourselves when making
Bequests,—two just men
Of your own (brotherhood)
Or others from outside
If ye are journeying
Through the earth,
And the chance of death
Befalls you (thus).
If ye doubt (their truth),
Detain them both
After prayer, and let them both
Swear by God:
"We wish not in this
For any worldly gain,
Even though the (beneficiary)
Be our near relation:
We shall hide not
The evidence before God:
If we do, then behold!
The sin be upon us!"
But if it gets known
That these two were guilty
Of the sin (of perjury),
Let two others stand forth
In their places,—nearest
In kin from among those
Who claim a lawful right:
Let them swear by God:
"We affirm that our witness
Is truer than that
Of those two, and that we
Have not trespassed (beyond
The truth): if we did,
Behold! the wrong be
Upon us!"
That is most suitable:
That they may give the evidence
In its true nature and shape,
Or else they would fear
That other oaths would be
Taken after their oaths.
But fear God, and listen
(To His counsel): for God
Guideth not a rebellious people:
Say: "What thing is most
Weighty in evidence?"
Say: "God is witness
Between me and you;
This Qur-ān hath been
Revealed to me by inspiration,
That I may warn you
And all whom it reaches.
Can ye possibly bear witness
That besides God there is
Another God?" Say:
"Nay! I cannot bear witness!"
Say: But in truth
He is the One God,
And I truly am innocent
Of (your blasphemy of) joining
Others with Him."
It is He Who created
The heavens and the earth
In true (proportions):
The day He saith, "Be,"
Behold! it is. His Word
Is the Truth. His will be
The dominion the day
The trumpet will be blown.
He knoweth the Unseen
As well as that which is
Open. For He
Is the Wise, well acquainted
(With all things).
They will present their excuses
To you when ye return
To them. Say thou: "Present
No excuses: we shall not
Believe you: God hath already
Informed us of the true state
Of matters concerning you:
It is your actions that God
And His Apostle will observe:
In the end will ye
Be brought back to Him
Who knoweth what is hidden
And what is open:
Then will He show you
The truth of all
That ye did."
And say: "Work (righteousness):
Soon will God observe your work,
And His Apostle, and the Believers:
Soon will ye be brought back
To the Knower of what is
Hidden and what is open:
Then will He show you
The truth of all that ye did."
And those who launch
A charge against chaste women,
And produce not four witnesses
(To support their allegations),—
Flog them with eighty stripes;
And reject their evidence
Ever after: for such men
Are wicked transgressors;—
And for those who launch
A charge against their spouses,
And have (in support)
No evidence but their own,—
Their solitary evidence
(Can be received) if they
Bear witness four times
(With an oath) by God
That they are solemnly
Telling the truth;
Say: "O God!
Creator of the heavens
And the earth!
Knower of all that is
Hidden and open!
It is Thou that wilt
Judge between Thy Servants
In those matters about which
They have differed."
And they make into females
Angels who themselves serve
God. Did they witness
Their creation? Their evidence
Will be recorded, and they
Will be called to account!
Say: "The Death from which
Ye flee will truly
Overtake you: then will
Ye be sent back
To the Knower of things
Secret and open: and He
Will tell you (the truth
Of) the things that ye did!"