Investigating the condition that witness has no benefit for the testimony of a close friend

According to the results of this research which is carried out through descriptive and analytic methodology, considering the condition of “no interest for the witness” some Islamic jurists believe that the testimony of a close friend is not acceptable. Besides, article 177 of the Islamic Penal Code mentions about the conditions of the witness, including no interest for him/her: “the conditions for this article needs to be distinguished by the judge”. Therefore, the judge should investigate carefully every other evidence. In juristic viewpoint, the condition of “no suspicion over the witness” has nothing to do with rejection of his/her testimony; because: 1. Sometimes there is no defect in people’s friendship for gaining interest or repelling losses. 2. The justice of the friend, especially if his/her friendship is devoted to God, prevents him/her from false testimony. 3. Although relatives may have interest, their testimonies are accepted. Then, the testimony of the friends should be acceptable, too. 4. Testimony is suspected for the cases which is explicitly described in the Sharia; there is no such explicit verdict for the testimony of the friend. 5. The jurists have stated only six instances of “being suspected”. Therefore, due to general need for fair testimony, for those cases that interest of the witness is not clearly assessed, it would be accepted.