A Research on the Necessity of the Validity of Witness’s Qualifications in an Expert

Consulting experts in technical and specific issues to discover the truth, namely in trials, is of paramount significance in Islamic law and jurisprudence, and even the expert’s advice is considered as the main pillars of trials. Thus, to have a valid expertise opinion, he should be qualified enough with some specific qualifications. According to some scholars, to have a valid expertise opinion either in trials or other issues, the expert should hold witnessing qualifications such as multiplicity and justice of a witness, and on and so forth, while some other scholars do not regard them necessary. With respect to different cases of referring to experts in different entries of jurisprudence and Islamic law and by examining the qualifications of an expert and stating the nature of witnessing and comparing the issue of testimony to expertise we may conclude that the natures of testimony and expertise are different, and only in specific situations in which the qualifications of witness are observed, the expert could be in the position of the witness, otherwise the opinion of a reliable expert is the criterion.