Question:
The one that wants to enter Islam does he need two witnesses present when he pronounces his shahadatain? If so, do they have to be all males, or all females, or males and females. If females do they have to be two women?
Answer:
It is not a condition for the one entering into Islam to have a witness, if he pronounces the shahaadatain then that suffices him to enter into Islam even if only one person hears, even one woman. As this is conveying information not witnessing. There is a difference between relaying information and being a witness. As many of the hadith are narrated by A’aisha (May Allah be pleased with her), as she was relaying information from the Prophet. She would said, “The Prophet ﷺ said this, the Prophet commanded with this, the Prophet prohibited this.” These ahadith come from the angle of information, not from the aspect of a witness.
As for the hadith of Miqdad bin `Amr Al-Kindi (May Allah be pleased with him) in Sahih Bukhari, when he asked the Prophet ﷺ, “Suppose I met one of the disbelievers and we fought, and he struck one of my hands with his sword and cut it off and then took refuge in a tree and said, “I surrender to Allah (i.e. I have become a Muslim),’ could I kill him, O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ), after he had said this?” Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “You should not kill him.” Al- Miqdad said, “O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)! But he had cut off one of my two hands, and then he had uttered those words?” Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) replied, “You should not kill him, for if you kill him, he would be in your position where you had been before killing him, and you would be in his position where he had been before uttering those words.” The Prophet ﷺ didn’t give Miqdad any excuse to kill this disbeliever. He didn’t say did someone witness his Shahaadah? And even if that was the case, if just one person heard even if it was a woman, that would be sufficient.
Answered by: Shaikh Abu Abdillah Muhammad Ba Jamaal (May Allah preserve him)
Source : https://t.me/OfficialChannelShaykhBaajammaal/14
Translated by : Abu Yusuf Bilal ibn Howard Robinson