Islamic Fiqh > Judgment and testimony > Proof and the decisive oath (yamin al-qada)
Who brings proof and who swears? The distribution of burdens of proof in trial, the oath returned to the defendant and its conditions.
Updated on 06 October 2026 at 10:50 PM
Who must bring proof and who must swear? The whole procedure of Islamic judgment rests on the distribution laid down by the Prophet: proof upon the claimant, the oath upon the one who denies. The sheets of comparative fiqh detail the definitions of claimant and defendant school by school, the fate of contradicting proofs, and the case of the single witness strengthened by the oath.
"The proof is upon the claimant and the oath upon the one who denies."
al-Bayhaqi, as-Sunan al-Kubra 20990 (authentic hadith)
The chapter is published in sections, each complete and directly accessible:
Bada'i al-Sana'i by al-Kasani · Hanafi school
because the taking-up (of testimony) of the witness, in other matters, follows the way of referral by himself and not by another: taking-up is thus validly done therein by the way of direct vision.
Of this is testifying to one's own testimony, to the extent that if he says: "I testify as I testified", or "as I testified", or "upon what I testified", the taking-up is not valid as long as he has not said "upon my testimony", for the meaning of taking-up and referral is only realized by testifying to one's own testimony.