A Reflection on the Absence of Accusation as a Condition for Witness

The testimony of witnesses in courts is among the evidence in penal and civil law. In order to rely on the results of testimony, strict conditions have been prescribed for witness which, according to the famous opinion of Shiite jurists are maturity, wisdom, Islam and legitimacy of birth, justice and the absence of accusation. Although the state of not being accused in witness has been considered as a feature whose absence confronts the witness with the rejection of his testimony, careful examination of the Islamic jurists' words and expressions in this regard shows that the accusation of witness and the probability of perjury in favor of one of the parties are not considered as an obstacle to testimony ; since, if his justice is accepted, this probability is weak or unimaginable; instead, the obstacle is that the witness is a beneficiary. Therefore, the opinion of those jurists who have used the condition that the wintess is not a beneficiary instead of the absence of accusation has been preferred.