And Shurayh (the judge of Mecca) was told by a man (name unknown), "Bear witness in this case." He replied, "Go and say this before the ruler, then I will bear witness there." And Ikrimah says: Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) asked Abdur Rahman bin Awf (may Allah be pleased with him): "If you yourself see someone committing adultery or theft with your own eyes, and you are the leader, will you carry out the prescribed punishment on him?" Abdur Rahman replied, "No." Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "Will your testimony not be like the testimony of any other Muslim?" Abdur Rahman said, "Indeed, you speak the truth." Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "If people did not say that Umar has added something to the Book of Allah from himself, I would have written the verse of stoning with my own hand in the Mushaf." And Ma'iz Aslami confessed to adultery four times before the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), so he (peace be upon him) ordered him to be stoned, and it has not been reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) made the attendees witnesses to his confession. And Hammad bin Abi Sulayman (the teacher of Imam Abu Hanifa, may Allah have mercy on him) said: "If the adulterer confesses even once before the ruler, he will be stoned." And Hakam bin Utaybah said: "He cannot be stoned until he confesses four times."

Narrated Abu Qatada: Allah's Apostle said on the Day of (the battle of) Hunain, "Whoever has killed an infidel and has a proof or a witness for it, then the salb (arms and belongings of that deceased) will be for him." I stood up to seek a witness to testify that I had killed an infidel but I could not find any witness and then sat down. Then I thought that I should mention the case to Allah's Apostle I (and when I did so) a man from those who were sitting with him said, "The arms of the killed person he has mentioned, are with me, so please satisfy him on my behalf." Abu Bakr said, "No, he will not give the arms to a bird of Quraish and deprive one of Allah's lions of it who fights for the cause of Allah and His Apostle." Allah's Apostle I stood up and gave it to me, and I bought a garden with its price, and that was my first property which I owned through the war booty. The people of Hijaz said, "A judge should not pass a judgment according to his knowledge, whether he was a witness at the time he was the judge or before that" And if a litigant gives a confession in favor of his opponent in the court, in the opinion of some scholars, the judge should not pass a judgment against him till the latter calls two witnesses to witness his confession. And some people of Iraq said, "A judge can pass a judgement according to what he hears or witnesses (the litigant's confession) in the court itself, but if the confession takes place outside the court, he should not pass the judgment unless two witnesses witness the confession." Some of them said, "A judge can pass a judgement depending on his knowledge of the case as he is trust-worthy, and that a witness is Required just to reveal the truth. The judge's knowledge is more than the witness." Some said, "A judge can judge according to his knowledge only in cases involving property, but in other cases he cannot." Al-Qasim said, "A judge ought not to pass a judgment depending on his knowledge if other people do not know what he knows, although his knowledge is more than the witness of somebody else because he might expose himself to suspicion by the Muslims and cause the Muslims to have unreasonable doubt. "