Meaning: a witness · Also translated as: witnesses, witness, your witnesses, two witnesses
Forms in the Quran
شَهِيدًا×20
شُهَدَآءَ×12
شَهِيدٌ×12
وَٱلشُّهَدَآءِ×3
شُهَدَآءَكُم×2
ٱلشُّهَدَآءِ×2
شَهِيدَيْنِ×1
بِشَهِيدٍ×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…
And if ye are in doubt
As to what We have revealed
From time to time to Our servant,
Then produce a Sūra
Like thereunto;
And call your witnesses or helpers
(If there are any) besides God,
If your (doubts) are true.
Were ye witnesses
When Death appeared before Jacob?
Behold, he said to his sons:
"What will ye worship after me?"
They said: "We shall worship
Thy God and the God of thy fathers,—
Of Abraham, Ismā'īl, and Isaac,—
The One (True) God:
To Him we bow (in Islam)."
Thus have We made of you
An Ummat justly balanced,
That ye might be witnesses
Over the nations,
And the Apostle a witness
Over yourselves;
And We appointed the Qibla
To which thou wast used,
Only to test those who followed
The Apostle from those
Who would turn on their heels
(From the Faith). Indeed it was
(A change) momentous, except
To those guided by God.
And never would God
Make your faith of no effect.
For God is to all people
Most surely full of kindness,
Most Merciful.
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.
Say: "O ye People of the Book!
Why obstruct ye
Those who believe,
From the Path of God,
Seeking to make it crooked,
While ye were yourselves
Witnesses (to God's Covenant)?'
But God is not unmindful
Of all that ye do."
If a wound hath touched you,
Be sure a similar wound
Hath touched the others.
Such days (of varying fortunes)
We give to men and men
By turns: that God may know
Those that believe,
And that He may take
To Himself from your ranks
Martyr-witnesses (to Truth).
And God loveth not
Those that do wrong.
To (benefit) every one,
We have appointed
Sharers and heirs
To property left
By parents and relatives.
To those, also, to whom
Your right hand was pledged,
Give their due portion.
For truly God is witness
To all things.
All who obey God
And the Apostle
Are in the company
Of those on whom
Is the Grace of God,—
Of the Prophets (who teach),
The Sincere (lovers of Truth),
The Witnesses (who testify),
And the Righteous (who do good):
Ah! what a beautiful Fellowship!
There are certainly among you
Men who would tarry behind:
If a misfortune befalls you,
They say: "God did favour us
In that we were not
Present among them."
Whatever good, (O man!)
Happens to thee, is from God;
But whatever evil happens
To thee, is from thy (own) soul.
And We have sent thee
As an Apostle
To (instruct) mankind.
And enough is God
For a witness.
O ye who believe!
Stand out firmly
For justice, as witnesses
To God, even as against
Yourselves, or your parents,
Or your kin, and whether
It be (against) rich or poor:
For God can best protect both.
Follow not the lusts
(Of your hearts), lest ye
Swerve, and if ye
Distort (justice) or decline
To do justice, verily
God is well-acquainted
With all that ye do.
But God beareth witness
That what He hath sent
Unto thee He hath sent
From His (own) knowledge,
And the angels bear witness:
But enough is God for a witness.
O ye who believe!
Stand out firmly
For God, as witnesses
To fair dealing, and let not
The hatred of others
To you make you swerve
To wrong and depart from
Justice. Be just: that is
Next to Piety: and fear God.
For God is well-acquainted
With all that ye do.
It was We who revealed
The Law (to Moses): therein
Was guidance and light.'
By its standard have been judged
The Jews, by the Prophets
Who bowed (as in Islam)
To God's Will, by the Rabbis
And the Doctors of Law:
For to them was entrusted
The protection of God's Book,
And they were witnesses thereto:
Therefore fear not men,
But fear Me, and sell not
My Signs for a miserable price.
If any do fail to judge
By (the light of) what God
Hath revealed, they are
(No better than) Unbelievers.
"Never said I to them
Aught except what Thou
Didst command me
To say, to wit, 'Worship
God, my Lord and your Lord';
And I was a witness
Over them whilst I dwelt
Amongst them; when thou
Didst take me up
Thou wast the Watcher
Over them, and Thou
Art a witness to all things.
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."
Of camels a pair,
And of oxen a pair;
Say, hath He forbidden
The two males,
Or the two females,
Or (the young) which the wombs
Of the two females enclose?—
Were ye present when God
Ordered you such a thing?
But who doth more wrong
Than one who invents
A lie against God,
To lead astray men
Without knowledge?
For God guideth not
People who do wrong