Tadmiya (the dying man's word that he was killed)

Tadmiya is the words of a slain man before he dies: "my blood is with so-and-so", or "so-and-so killed me". It is a term of the Malikis, who count it among the signs (lawth) that establish qasama. ^{1 2}

Tadmiya comes from making a man bleed by striking him until blood comes out. As a term it is the dying man's words that his blood is with a named person; the other schools treat the question under qasama without giving it this name. ¹

• Damiya: a wound that weakens the skin so that something like blood oozes out without splitting the skull; it is one of the ten named wounds. ¹
• Ish'ar: marking a sacrificial camel or cow with blood so that it is known as an offering; in the language this is tadmiya, but not the Maliki term. ¹

The Malikis treat tadmiya as a sign that establishes qasama when it comes from a free, adult, sane Muslim, two just witnesses hear it, the man keeps to it, and the dead man bears a wound. This is called the red tadmiya. A mark of a blow or of poison counts as a wound. Al-Layth held that tadmiya is acted upon. ¹ The Malikis reason that a dying man does not dare to lie about shedding blood, that rulings rest on strong presumption, and that qasama is fifty solemn oaths as a precaution for blood, since the killer usually hides the killing. ¹

Others hold that the dying man's words that his blood is with a person are a claim by the dead, and people are not held to such claims; oaths do not establish a claim, but only turn it back on the one who denies it. ¹

The white tadmiya has no wound and no mark of a blow. In the accepted Maliki view it is not accepted, so a dying man's words in sickness, without a wound or mark, are accepted only with proof. ² The fuller treatment is under the entries on crimes and on qasama. ²