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Why is it that whenever witnesses are required in Islam, two women are required to take the place of only one man?
The Quran in Sura 2:282 says:
And let two men from among you bear witness to all such documents [contracts of loans without interest]. But if two men be not available, there should be one man and two women to bear witness so that if one of the women forgets (anything), the other may remind her.
In Sunni point of view, Women have deficiency in reason and in religion. That is why a woman's testimony is accepted if it is supported by another woman.
"I have not seen anyone more deficient in ability to reason and deen than you. A cautious sensible man can be led astray by some of you.” It was said: “O Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him)! What is the deficiency in our reasoning and deen?” He said: “Is not the testimony of two women equal to the witness of one man?” It was said: "What is deficient in her deen?" The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Is not it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?” [Al-Bukhari]
The Prophet (peace be upon him) explained that the deficiency in woman's reasoning means their weak memory. Therefore, their testimony must be verified and supported by another woman to confirm their testimony, because they may forget and thus add or omit some of the testimony.
As for the deficiency of their religion it means they abandon Salah (prayer) and Sawm (fasting) during their menses and post-partum period. They are not commanded to repeat Salah (prayer). This is the meaning of their being lacking in deen. They will not be called to account for this shortcoming, because it is the will of Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) Who legislated this for their comfort. If they were to observe Sawm during their menses and postpartum period, it would be difficult for them. Therefore, Allah commands them to abandon Sawm during their menses and post-partum period, and make up for it later. As for Salah, there is something which prevents them from ceremonial purity. Therefore, it is out of the Mercy of Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) that He commands them to abandon Salah during their menses and postpartum period.
This deficiency does not mean that we cannot rely on her in narration or testimony, if she is supported by another woman. Men being better than women in reasoning and memory is general. Some women may excel men. There are many women whose reason is better than men, and are stronger in deen (Religion) and memorization. The report of the Prophet (peace be upon him) only indicates that the male gender is generally better in reasoning and religion than the female gender in the two aspects specified by the Prophet (peace be upon him). Women may perform more righteous deeds than men, their piety may be more than men, and thus their rank in the Hereafter may be better than the rank of men. 1
This is the explanation of the Scholars : Deficiency of women in Deen and reason
In fact, one of the scholars of Islam and second most highest narrator of hadeeths was Aisha (Radiallahu anha), who was a woman.
Now, most non-Muslims might think of this as a backward view. So, I want to give some logical and medical reports to support this view. So, I request them to give a patient reading with open mind and prevent emotions come in the way of their reasoning.
Please read this article which cites some medical reports and provides some reasoning : Why two witnesses?
Thank you.
Firstly this is only, as the Quran points out, in the area of business contracts. Where if two men are not brought then 1 man and two women. The Quran also points out that this is in regards to the issue of forgetfulness, because the business world isn't the natural place for a women, the women's responsibility lies in taking care of her children and her home, where it is them man's job to go out and work to support the family. Furthermore as already mentioned two women in regards to business contracts, where if a women in an area of her expertise is to give witness then that witness is sufficient.
Allah has set a social system in Quran. According to this social system, women do not have to work, they must be fed and kept safe by their families or by the government. The women are not to be independent in the Islamic social system (I don't mean that they are prohibited to be independent, they don't have to. They have right to request shelter from government. They don't need to work. But they can if they want to, it is not prohibited.).
So, in the Islamic social system, women always depends to some others in both economic means and in emotional means. When a person (not necessarily to be woman) is dependent on someone else, he/she starts to think, live and behave as the one he/she depends to. This is a psychological fact.
So, if we consider the worst conditions, a woman witness can be threaten by her family or husband, or just she can feel herself under pressure of the one she depends to. She can hide some of the facts even if she doesn't want to do so.
Of course, there are also different reasons too.
Women are too emotional. They usually exaggerate events. They have a passive role in the society (it is the same in the entire world). They can't easily express their feelings. They more try to take attention compared to men. They actually feel themselves dependent to other people.
Because of all these reasons (and maybe there are more reasons, Allah knows), two women's witness is not enough for clarifying a crime or some other matter. That doesn't mean 1 man = 2 women, that's just to make the evidence more robust.
Quran itself states the reason clearly: "if one of the women forgets (anything), the other may remind her". This is about the way human mind works. Men keep the event in more details. This is about nature and something like a man being physically stronger than a woman. Allah that created human knows it better than any authority. So Quran have to be obeyed and a Muslim should not put questions on words of Allah. Interpretation of all cases is not so simple. We can not disobey a command while we could not find a reason for it.
The reason why Quran 2:82 prescribed two female witnesses to one male witness is for multiple reasons.
The reason for this witness ruling, which is 2 female witnesses to 1 male witness for commercial transactions is because women at the time and throughout much of history and even in many areas present-day were more familiar with domestic/private sphere of society while men were more familiar with the public/business sphere of society, meaning men were more financially aware. And it should be taken into consideration that a man has the financial burden to provide for his wife and daughters while women have no financial responsibility in Islam. But as we can see in modern times, many women work in the public sphere and are financially aware so they should suffice, alone, in place of one male witness with similar qualifications.
This ruling also protected female witnesses from possible bullying or manipulation. And with many of these contracts lasting for lengthy amounts of time, a female witness, possibly, would not always be available, if there might be a need to review the contract for whatever reason, since they could be busy with taking care of their kids, pregnancy, etc.
In no way does this ayah says or even infers that this witness ruling is because of the false belief that a female is more deficient in reason and intellect than a male.
Quran 2:82 is the longest Ayah in the Quran. One must read it entirely to understand why the witness ruling was designed this way.
This ayah is said to have been revealed in connection with agricultural forward sales, but is generally applicable to all agreements, including loans (Ṭ), where payment and delivery do not take place simultaneously (IK, Q).
Among the variety of interpretations concerning the stipulation that, if one cannot find two men to serve as witnesses, one may call two women and one man, it is acknowledged that this provision is peculiar to the commercial transactions mentioned in this verse (IK, Q, R, Ṭ) and differs from other kinds of testimony. Other verses explicitly equate male and female testimony, such as 24:6–9, where accusations of adultery are given equal consideration whether they are made by the husband or the wife. In the classical Islamic legal tradition, women were generally excluded from bearing witness in cases involving corporal punishments and qiṣāṣ (see 2:178c), but even in such cases it seems to be a question of preference, since in the absence of a male witness, women’s testimony would be accepted (Q). Such preferences likely reflect a general social aversion to involving women in such matters. Moreover, since cases are adjudicated by a judge, it is impossible, strictly speaking, to quantify the value of testimony, and a judge simply needs all the relevant evidence to come to a decision.
If one of the two errs, the other can remind her: “to err” means to forget some aspect of the contract (Q, R, Ṭ). The commentators have generally hewed close to two interpretations of this phrase: that by being reminded the erring woman would become equal, legally, to the man; or that the two women together were equal, legally, to the man. The latter was more widely accepted. It is also true that some commentators, but not all, understood this verse to indicate an essential inferiority in women’s ability to judge objectively and hence the intrinsic unreliability of their testimony. Nothing in the verse demands such a reading, however, and indeed the very structure of the transaction described indicates otherwise. This verse could easily describe a situation in which two female parties arrange a forward sale and bring in two men as witnesses. In Islamic Law women, like men, can transact any sale or loan on their own behalf, including any number of transactions where witnesses are not necessary; thus the provision for two women to act as witnesses in place of a single man in forward sales or debts must reflect a different purpose.
There are no rules about individual women entering into such contracts, but since the women of the time, as a general rule, would have been inexperienced with the particulars of potentially complex financial arrangements, accepting two women in the place of one man would have been more practical, since the purpose of such testimony was to ensure the proper observance of the particulars of the loan or sale. Considering the social conditions of the time, for women to participate in this way at all would have been itself a major change, and to require two of them in such transactions can be understood as providing a measure of protection for them against bullying or manipulation, rather than as an indictment of their testimony. Indeed, jurists such as Abū Bakr ibn ʿArabī, in Aḥkām al-Qur’ān, wondered why a man could not remind one woman if she erred, and he could not arrive at an answer.
If one reads this provision for women’s testimony in light of the legally established principle upholding women’s competence to own property and carry out economic transactions, it suggests that the stipulation regarding women’s testimony in the present verse is particular to this circumstance and is meant to address certain social or communal difficulties a woman might face when witnessing in such a case. Unlike spot sales, which require no witnesses or written contracts, a forward contract involved items requiring a certain level of expertise to understand. Indeed, from among those whom you approve as witnesses suggests that it is a matter of competence in a specific area, and such transactions would not have been widely carried out by women of the time. Moreover, such arrangements could extend over years, and women would not necessarily be as available to act as male witnesses, from a strictly social point of view, over a long period of time. The trade of present goods refers to a transaction where delivery is made at the time of payment and is thus concluded instantaneously, obviating the need to write a formal contract.
Source: The Study Quran p. 315-318
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I think this area is heavily disputed (on witnesses in general). While the Qu'arn is very clear in your example, it does not explicitly extend that beyond financial matters.
The most commonly accepted reason that I have seen is that financial matters are generally not in the women's sphere of expertise or interests. On the contrary, many scholars say that a woman's testimony alone is fine on matters that deal with womanly areas, such as child birth. The number of women can be different depending on the scholar though.
Also, as a wrench in the system, in cases where a husband accuses his wife of unchastity, her testimony will invalidate his.
