Testimony of a Villager Against a City-Dweller: Shar‘i Ruling and Differences
✍ Written by: Imran Ayub Lahori
❀ The Hadith Regarding a Villager’s Testimony
It is reported from Hazrat Abu Hurairah (رضي الله عنه) that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
لا تجوز شهادة بدوى على صاحب قرية
"The testimony of a villager against a city-dweller is not permissible."
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl: 8/289, 2674; Abū Dāwūd: 3602, Kitāb al-Qaḍāʾ, Bāb Shahādat al-Badawī ʿalā Ahl al-Amṣār; Ibn Mājah: 2366; Bayhaqī: 10/250]
◈ Reason Behind Dislike of a Villager’s Testimony
According to Khaṭṭābī (رحمه الله):
The testimony of a villager is disliked because, due to lack of knowledge, he might not fulfill the right of testimony and may alter the matter from its actual reality.
[Maʿālim al-Sunan: 4/170]
◈ The Opinion of Imam Ahmad (رحمه الله) and His Companions
Imam Ahmad (رحمه الله) and a group of his companions accepted the practice of this Hadith, but they interpreted it as referring to such a villager whose justice (ʿadālah) and trustworthiness are not known — and in most cases, such qualities remain unknown.
[al-Mughnī: 12/32]
◈ The Preferred Opinion (Rājiḥ Qawl)
According to Shawkānī (رحمه الله), this is the correct and stronger opinion.
[Nayl al-Awṭār: 5/388]
The reasoning is that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) accepted the testimony of a villager regarding the sighting of the moon.
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 2052, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām, Bāb fī Shahādat al-Wāḥid ʿalā Ruʾyat Hilāl Ramaḍān; Abū Dāwūd: 2342]
