| Sumario: | Article 177 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code considers "non-engagement in begging" and "non-vagrancy" as prerequisites for accepting witness testimony. However, these two conditions have faced serious challenges in light of recent social developments in Iran, particularly from rational and legal perspectives. This study aims to re re-examine these concepts through jurisprudential, social, and legal lenses and to provide a foundational basis for legislative reform. Using a descriptive descriptive-analytical method and relying on library resources and data from fiqh software, the findings indicate that the concepts of "beggar" and "vagrant" require redefinition in contemporary social discourse. Only individuals who adopt begging as a profession and a means of livelihood should be excluded from being witnesses--not those who resort to it temporarily or out of necessity. Moreover, vagrancy can only be defined when three indicators--homelessness, unemployment, and reliance on wandering for survival--are simultaneously present. Ultimately, applying these labels to "socially excluded individuals" without precise differentiation not only contradicts principles of justice and the strict interpretation of criminal law but also complicates the process of proving guilt and paves the way for injustice in the target society.
|
|---|