An Examination of Jurisprudential Challenges of Most Jurists' Viewpoint Regarding the Inauthenticity of Women as the Secondary Witness

Sometimes, the presence of the main witness in some cases is not possible in the court, and the role and importance of the secondary witness is revealed in such cases. Sometimes the secondary witness is not a man, and a woman may testify to the testimony of the main witness. A small number of jurists accept women as the secondary witnesses in certain cases while the strict view of most jurists towards the testimony of women has caused them not to accept women as the witness. Dealing with most jurists' viewpoints and criticizing their arguments helps us in reaching a rational purpose outside of the effects of indirect factors in jurisprudential inferences. Therefore, this article, which was carried out in a descriptive-analytical method, shows that the famous arguments of the non-acceptance of women as the secondary witness is disputed. According to arguments such as the principle of non-superiority, analogy of priority, method of testimony as a criterion, generality of arguments and correction of the basis of Article 186 of the Islamic Penal Code, the acceptance of the testimony of a woman as a secondary witness is absolutely proved.